


In Which Physics Doesn't Apply

by onelittlespeck



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Curses, Developing Relationship, F/M, Jack-Centric, Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-25
Updated: 2018-04-25
Packaged: 2019-04-27 20:58:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 35,714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14433948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onelittlespeck/pseuds/onelittlespeck
Summary: Riley Evans always loved physics so she had no idea why it decided to betray her and stop applying to everyday situations. After all what's a world that doesn't follow Newton's Basic Laws? It all starts with falling down a rabbit hole but where it goes nobody knows. A Jack/OC story





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey Guys, you may notice that this story is on Fanfiction as well. That's because its's me on both sites! I changed my username to match and I decided to share my more popular works on both sites. So don't worry, no one is stealing my work.  
> To all the new readers, warning Riley curses alot.  
> Enjoy!

Chapter 1: The Faults of SIRI

In a sort of cliché way, it had all begun with a rabbit hole. Riley had seen Alice in Wonderland before and knew that following random rabbits into rabbit holes was a bad idea, but no one had ever mentioned just leaning over a random rabbit hole. Especially one that looked like it was made for Big Foot rather than a tiny bunny. Besides the hole had popped up randomly and caught Riley's attention when the snow piled up on the ground suddenly gave way. She couldn't possibly ignore such a thing. Well curiosity killed the cat and in this case curiosity caused the eighteen year old college girl to be seriously late for her physics lecture. Riley fell in.

"Oh my fucking god!" Riley screamed as she slipped and slid through a series of underground tunnels. She quickly lost her balance and was basically belly surfing her way through the tunnels. Up and over hills, around corners, and up the walls Riley slid.

"This! Doesn't even! Physics!" Riley screeched as she did a loop-d-loop after a particularly fast turn.

She slid past a series of tunnel exits all with vastly different destinations.

"Was that China?" Riley asked no one in particular as she slid past what she swore was the Great Wall of China.

Suddenly, all the other tunnel exits disappeared and Riley felt herself gaining speed.

"Oh shit," Riley realized what was happening two seconds before it happened.

Riley shot out of the tunnel and into thin air, much like one shoots a cannonball out of a cannon. All below Riley was white and there was a moment where Riley could swear that her life flashed before her eyes and then gravity pulled her down. Riley squeezed her eyes shut and braced her hands over her head before landing in a snow drift.

"Oh sweet Jesus," Riley cursed softly, her face in the snow.

She didn't know how, but she was alive. Sure she had almost peed herself in terror, but she hadn't and from what she could feel she was in one piece. That was something to be thankful for at least. Riley gave herself a few minutes to collect herself before the cold of the snow began to seep into her clothing. Eventually, she struggled to her feet and looked around.

"Oh, where the hell am I?" Riley asked herself as she stared at her surroundings.

There was snow, mountains, snow, and, to add a little spice to her life, snow. Basically, she was doomed.

"Okay breathe," Riley reminded herself, "Now what do you have with you? A physics notebook. Not much help. Some pens. I can write my will at least. My wallet. Perhaps I can burn money for a fire. Oh my iphone! Thank the gods!"

Riley quickly took her phone out of her purse and held it up triumphantly until she realized that she had no bars.

"Mother fucker!" Riley cursed.

It was at that moment Riley noticed she had Wi-Fi. Having Wi-Fi made even less sense than the rabbit hole she just fell down, but who was she to look a gift horse in the mouth?

"SIRI, where am I?" she asked the phone.

"I do not know."

"Really SIRI? How can you not know?!"

"I cannot find your location. I am sorry. Would you like to see a map?"

"F*cking Apple maps," Riley realized she was doing a lot of cursing for one day but decided that this was a special condition.

"I have received directions to a location. Would you like to see them?" SIRI piped up.

"You received directions?" Riley was flabbergasted, "How can you not know where we are but receive directions? Also who sent you directions?"

"Did you say directions? I shall open them for you," SIRI continued on, "The directions say go towards the highest mountain in the distance."

"What kind of directions are those? And no SIRI open Facebook, I have to tell people what happened," Riley told the phone.

"I cannot open Facebook," SIRI stated, "Would you like to see the directions?"

"No, I would not like to see the directions. SIRI video message my mom," Riley was beginning to lose her temper.

"I cannot call Mom. Would you like to see the directions?" SIRI asked.

"SIRI can you open anything except for those stupid directions?!" Riley screamed at her phone.

"No. Would you like to see the directions?" SIRI asked oblivious to Riley's anger.

Riley felt the anger seep out of her like the air out of a balloon with giant gaping hole. She was no longer angry. She was just exhausted and confused and a bit cold. At least she was wearing her winter boots and coat, she reminded herself. It could have been worse. This could have happened to her in the summer.

"Sure SIRI. Show me the directions," Riley gave in.

"I will show you the directions," SIRI announced and opened a document containing directions.

SIRI began to read the directions out loud and Riley sighed before giving in and following the directions.

According to her phone, Riley had been walking for almost an hour. She had been trying to entertain herself by asking SIRI ridiculous questions, but that quickly lost its amusement when SIRI kept asking her if she wanted the directions reread to her. Frankly, Riley wasn't sure how much longer she could go on. She was cold. The snow was shin deep and Riley was basically shuffling her way through it at this point. She could barely feel her toes through her lined boots and her hands were curled up in her sleeves. She had the hood of her bright red pea coat pulled as far over her head as she could but her cheeks and nose were still freezing.

"SIRI I'm going to freeze to death," Riley announced.

Her phone was clutched in one of her hands, up her sleeve, in hopes of keeping it from freezing, but Riley doubted it was meant to survive an hour trek in what seemed to be Antarctica.

"I'm not wearing nearly enough layers. I'm so cold even my jacket doesn't help," Riley continued, "I'm going to die wearing my moose sweater. I mean it's cute but out of all the things I could have died in."

At this point Riley had to give up talking because her teeth began to chatter too hard and her body began to shiver violently. It was putting one last effort into keeping her warm. A futile effort because SIRI seemed determine to have Riley walk till she froze to death. Riley tried to tuck more of her head into her collar, keeping her eyes on the ground in front of her.

"You are here." SIRI announced suddenly.

Before Riley could react she walked into something very solid and very warm. A sudden tension filled Riley and shiver of fear slid down her spine as she began to realize what she ran into. It was furry. Brown and furry. Riley suddenly snapped her head upwards to glance at the creature. Its eye met her eyes and both screamed. Riley and the whatever-creature-it-was both jumped backwards pointing at each other and screaming. A bunch of small creatures clothed in red and green appeared behind the furry creature which only made Riley scream louder. This caused the small creatures to scream too.

"We don't have time for screaming contests," a gruff voice with a thick accent announced, "Christmas is in two weeks. Get back to work…"

The voice trailed off as the person finally came into view and saw Riley standing there. Apparently, there was a door behind the furry creature. Who knew? Riley heard her scream end with a sudden squeak when she noticed the man standing there. He was a big man, not big as in fat but big as in tall and rather big boned. He had long white hair and a beard. He had on a bright red sweater rolled up to his elbows, exposing large arm tattoos stating "Naughty" and "Nice".

"Santa?" Riley heard herself squeak again.

"Oh this can't be good," Santa slapped a palm over his face and dragged it down, "I don't have time for this."

It suddenly occurred to Riley that perhaps she had not been wrong when she thought she was at a pole. She had just been thinking of the wrong pole.

"Bring her in, Yeti," Santa announced walking back inside. The small clothed creatures, elves Riley corrected herself, followed Santa in, tripping over their own shoes in the process.

"Yeti?" Riley asked herself as the big furry creature suddenly came over to her and threw her over his shoulder.

"Oh that yeti," Riley really wished her brain would stop stating stupid things and actually focus for a moment but her wish was to go ungranted as she was carried into Santa's workshop.

You know that feeling when you wake up on Christmas morning? It's all the joy of the entire Christmas season at once and the heartfelt anticipation of what's waiting under the tree. That unspoken swelling of happiness when you sneak down the stairs and notice Santa has left a mound of presents. That one day a year where magic exists and even when you get older you can still faintly taste the magic in the air even if you no longer believe in it. That feeling. That wonderful joyful awe-inspiring feeling of good cheer and magic and faith in mankind, that's what entering Santa's workshop felt like.

Riley barely noticed her shivering as her body attempted to return to a normal temperature. This place was quite literally magical. There were toys as far as the eye could see, fabulous machines that buzzed and glowed, and cranes and belts that moved toys and tools around. There were dozens of other yetis stationed all over the place and they were sewing stuffed animals and painting robots and creating circuits for all sorts of electronics. Elves were running around all over the place but they weren't exactly helping with the toys. Instead, they were decorating themselves with Christmas lights and licking cookies and poking yetis. Riley didn't care though because this place made her feel like a small child staring at the wonder that is the world for the first time. It was beautiful feeling that she never wanted to let go of. The yeti placed her down in front of a globe that had to be at least five times as tall as her and it was covered with blinking yellow lights.

"Alright let's get this over with," Santa crossed his arms in front of his chest.

It probably would have been intimidating except for it was Santa. She was standing in front of Santa. Santa was looking at her. Santa.

"Who are you and how did you get here?" Santa asked gruffly.

Riley reached into her bag and pulled out her student ID and thrust it at Santa without taking her eyes off him. Santa reached out and took it from her and studied it intently.

"Riley Evans," Santa hummed to himself, "College student."

Santa blinked, looked up at Riley, and glanced back at the card.

"'You're a college student?" he asked.

Riley nodded unable to speak.

"And you can see me?" Santa asked her.

Riley nodded again.

Santa began to laugh, a deep laugh that came from his belly.

"It's been years since I've had someone as old as you believe in me," Santa smiled at Riley.

"You're real," Riley whispered.

"As real as you are," Santa leaned over so he was closer to Riley's height.

"Does this mean the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy and Leprechauns and Cupid are real? And Big Foot and Nessie?" the questions just came tumbling out of Riley's mouth as the wondrous realization hit her, "And Mother Nature? And Baby New Year? And Jack Frost? And the Sandman? And Rudolph? Cause if they are I owe Big Foot a serious apology because I never really believed in him…"

Riley glanced up at Santa again. He was smiling at her and looked like he was about to burst out laughing. She was in Santa's workshop at the North Pole with Santa and yetis and elves. Riley felt her eyes fill with tears and for a moment Riley forgot all about her situation and reclaimed her childhood and magic by running forward and hugging Santa as she wept.


	2. No App For That

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Riley and Santa work together to find out how exactly she came to the North Pole.

Chapter 2: No App For That

Riley sat at a table sipping milk and nibbling on cookies as her coat and boots were drying in front of the fire. She was literally the happiest she had ever been as she sat across from Santa. Sure he wasn't as jolly as she had always imagined him being, but somehow gruff-looking Santa was even better. He was still Santa with magic and cookies and good cheer, but he also looked like he could punch anyone who tried to steal Christmas. Speaking of stealing, the elves were attempting to steal the cookies off the plate on the table, but Santa stopped them without even looking.

"So you fell down a rabbit hole and landed here," Santa prompted.

"Well not here, my phone led me from where I landed to here," Riley slid her phone across the table.

Santa picked up her phone and began to glance through it.

"There must be a glitch in the system," Santa mumbled, "I hate building these things. Apple is no good with maps."

"I know, right?" Riley asked before selecting another cookie to eat.

She had to swipe it from the plate quickly as an elf was reaching for it.

"I'll have to call the guardians," Santa handed her phone back to her, "This is a unique situation."

"The guardians?" Riley asked with a mouth full of cookie. She grabbed her mug of milk from where an elf was about to grab it.

"Chosen mythological beings by the Man in the Moon. Our job is to protect all the children of the world and their dreams and hopes," Santa explained.

Riley had a new found appreciation for Santa not only did he bring Christmas but he also punched bad guys who attempted to hurt children.

"You're such a badass Santa," Riley complimented.

"Language," Santa reminded her.

"Sorry Santa! Please don't put me on the naughty list!" Riley begged.

Santa chuckled good-naturedly.

"I don't put adults on naughty list for bad language or else no over fifteen would get presents." Santa chuckled.

"So who are the other guardians?" Riley changed the subject, feeling a slight bit guilty for her foul language.

"There is Sandman and Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny," Santa listed.

"Everyone else still exists right?" Riley confirmed, "You're just the special mythological creatures."

"But of course," Santa replied, "You don't see me going around shooting love arrows on Valentine's day. That is Cupid's job."

"Oh that's good because I already started on that apology letter to Big Foot and I would hate for all my work to be for nothing."

Santa chuckled at that one.

"That's an interesting combination of characters," Riley pointed out.

"We have our differences," Santa admitted, "But we work together for the children. Now come. Watch how I call them."

Santa got up from the table and Riley followed, snagging the last cookie before she got up. An elf who had been trying to steal the cookie stuck its tongue out at her. Riley stuck her tongue out at it. Santa led her over to the giant globe she saw before. He went over to a lever on the side and pulled it. From above the globe an array of rainbow lights appeared and stretched across the room and out the window into the sky.

"The Northern Lights," Riley gasped, "I will never be able to take another science class seriously."

Santa laughed.

"It will take the guardians a few minutes to get here if you want to explore shop," Santa began.

Riley was running over to the stairs to the workshop floor the moment Santa said explore.

"Thanks Santa you're ten kinds of awesome!" she shouted behind her.

Riley wandered dazedly through the workshop. There was so much to see that she could stay here for years and never see everything that was going on. The yetis were a bit intimating due to their size but they were really quite nice even if Riley couldn't understand them. One of them even handed her a paintbrush and began to teach her how to paint toy robots. The task was a bit difficult because the yeti wasn't forming words so much as grunting but he made elaborate hand motions and Riley eventually got the gist. She briefly wondered if perhaps a machine would be faster until she saw how fast the yeti accomplished the task.

"Riley come meet guardians." Santa called her.

Riley handed her paintbrush to the yeti, told him he was doing a wonderful job painting but perhaps the robots would look better red, and hurried up the stairs. The first thing Riley noticed when she got up the stairs was the giant rabbit on its hind legs. With his ears, he was taller than Santa and blue-grey in color. What was perhaps weirder than the fact that he was a six foot bunny was that he was a six foot bunny with boomerangs. Next to the giant bunny was a man made of gold. He was small and squat but he seemed rather friendly as gold dust formed the words "Hi" above his head. After the gold man was a woman, fairy, humming bird mix. She was beautiful with an array of colorful feathers that made up her wings.

"Riley meet Bunny," Santa introduced her, "Sandy, and Tooth. Everyone meet Riley, girl who found Santa's workshop."

"Thought you had yetis to guard the place mate," Bunny spoke with an Australian accent.

"Yetis did guard place, they found Riley in snow. Apparently she fell down a rabbit hole. Care to explain that one?"

"Look mate I don't like what you're implying but I don't go around leaving holes for people to fall in."

"Oh let me look at those teeth," the Tooth Fairy flew forwards and stuck her fingers in Riley's mouth pulling at her lips so that she could see all her teeth.

Riley was a bit uncomfortable with the whole process but one doesn't just tell the Tooth Fairy not to look at teeth. Did they? Riley had no idea what was considered proper with the Tooth Fairy.

"Look she said giant rabbit hole," Santa argued, "You are only person who makes giant rabbit holes."

"I said I didn't do it mate. Besides why would I have a tunnel coming here? It's too damn cold."

At this moment Tooth extracted her fingers from Riley's mouth and flew between Santa and Bunny.

"Boys, boys we're all the same side," Tooth tried to settle them down.

"You just think you're so important mate. We don't all get praised for breaking and entering into someone's house but that doesn't mean we're careless."

"I don't break and enter. They invite me!" Santa argued.

Riley dubbed this moment Clash of the Holidays and decided that perhaps she should stay out of it.

"So Sandy," Riley turned to the gold little man, "What up?"

Sandy began forming golden pictures in the air above his head at a rapid speed, which was apparently his only form of communication.

"Woah woah draw slower," Riley told him, "I'm new to this."

So Santa and the Easter Bunny proceeded to have a long argument about which holiday was better while Tooth rain interference and Sandy and Riley had a delightful conversation about futons. At least that's what Riley assumed it was about. Eventually, Riley got sick of Santa and Bunny arguing and after quite a burn on Bunny's part she spoke up.

"You know you're not very nice for a giant fluffy rabbit," Riley blurted out.

The tension in the room was broken as everybody had a good laugh at that except for Bunny because apparently six foot bunnies don't appreciate being called fluffy. Everyone agreed to sit at the table while Riley explained her situation again.

"And that's what happened," Riley finished, "Santa found me having a screaming contest with a yeti outside his front door."

"Not exactly my front door," Santa mumbled, "Secret cave entrance."

"It is funny how you got in here by yourself," Tooth admitted, "Did the man in the moon help you?"

"Uh no moon just the phone. I blame Apple maps."

Sandy began to create shapes above his head.

"Sandy's right," Tooth went on, "We should be more concerned about the hole if Bunny didn't create it than who did?"

"Sheila we should just get her home at this point," Bunny added, "She can't stay here."

Riley felt fear clutch at her heart. Leave Santa? Leave the North Pole? But she just got here! This was a once in a lifetime chance and they wanted her to leave before she made the most of it.

"How about I leave you guys to discuss it?" Riley asked, "I'll just go hang out in the workshop for a bit."

"I don't know if that's such a good idea," Bunny began but Santa cut him off.

"Of course it is. Go have fun, Riley."

Feeling the rising tension again, Riley slipped away quietly. She half wanted to hear what they were going to say but if this was her last chance at Santa's workshop she wanted to make the most of it. It had been a long day full of life-changing revelations and magic becoming real and Riley's brain was full and her limbs were tired. There was one thing she had to see though. The yetis were busy making toys and the elves were busy doing whatever they did so Riley was quickly able to find the doorway to the stables and head inside.

The reindeer were gigantic, more like moose to be honest, but Riley was too excited to be frightened off by their size. Glancing up and down the rows Riley finally headed towards the friendliest looking reindeer. She held her hand up and the reindeer nuzzled it.

"I'm a physics major," Riley confessed to the reindeer, "And in one day all laws of physics have been thrown out the window with giant rabbit tunnels. I know Santa is real. I always wanted him to be real. Maybe that's why I could see him. But you. You are absolute proof that everything I've believed was fact is in fact bullshit."

The reindeer winced at that.

"Sorry about the language. I'm a college student after all," Riley began to pet the reindeer, "If I let you out will you fly for me? Just a little. You can hover if you like. I just need to see."

The reindeer nodded in agreement and Riley felt her heart hitch a little as she opened the stall.  
\------Changing Character POV-------  
North watched as Riley disappeared down the stairs before turning to the other guardians. Then he took Riley's ID out and threw it on the table.

"I am more concerned with where she came from than how she got here or how she's getting back," North told the other guardians, "I would know if someone that old still believed in me and I would know if there was a new believer as old as her, but I have never heard of Riley Evans before this afternoon."

"Are you sure North? You deliver presents to a lot of kids," Tooth pointed out.

"I would know."

"I can't remember delivering eggs to her either," Bunny admitted, "What about you Sandy?"

Sandy shook his head "No."

"I'll have my faeries check for her teeth," Tooth nodded towards Baby Tooth who flew away, "But what does this mean if we can't remember her?"

"I don't know," North admitted, "I have never run into this situation before."

"I don't think any of us have mate," Bunny continued, "Usually the only people who can see us are children and those who can see us get younger and younger every year."

"It's strange she believes in any of us," Tooth admitted.

"I don't think it was believing in us. I think she wanted to believe in us. She wanted us to be real. There's a difference," North told them, "When she hugged me I got glimpses of all these memories. Of Christmas mornings and letters to me. I can't remember reading any of those letters or sending any of those presents. As the memories got more current I got this feeling in my belly. This feeling of sadness."

There was a moment of silence.

"So what is she a new immortal or something?" Bunny asked.

"No we would still have memories as her as a human and besides she doesn't feel immortal," Tooth pointed out.

"A ghost?" Bunny threw out the idea.

"No would still have memories of her as a human," North answered.

Sandy created another drawing.

"No I don't think that's it either mate."

"That's it then. We're out of ideas. Has the Man in the Moon said anything?" Tooth questioned.

"He has been silent so far. It does not mean he is not involved. He could have chosen Riley for a reason," North went on, "We'll know with time."

"But the question is what do we do with her now?" Bunny voiced.

"We can start by getting to know her," Tooth commented, "She may not know the reason she is here but she has to be here for a reason."

"Santa," a voice shouted, "How does one land a reindeer?"

With that the guardians meeting came to an end as everyone rushed to the stables. They got there to see one of the reindeer flying around the ceiling with Riley clutching to its back.

\------Changing Character Pov----------  
"How do you land this thing?!" Riley shouted.

North stood up straight and whistled loudly. The reindeer took a sudden nosedive and landed in front of him. The moment the reindeer landed on the ground Riley rolled herself off its back and landed with a thump on the floor. She lay there for a moment catching her breath.

"Oh sweet Jesus I have never appreciated the floor so much. I don't get why gravity only applies selectively. Seriously, I can spin upside down with no consequences but I crash land every time I get a few feet off the ground?"

"I know how you feel," Bunny agreed.

"Oh then you'll join me in my Gravity Lovers Club. To be a member you have to obey the laws of gravity."

"Sounds like a plan Sheila," Bunny cracked a smile, "Would you like some help getting to your feet?"

"But I love the floor," Riley objected.

"You're rolling around in reindeer hay," Tooth pointed out.

"And I'm up," Riley rose to her feet quickly enough to cause her head to spin but Bunny steadied her.

"Easy there Sheila. You went on a bit of a wild ride."

"Well I tried to look up how to ride a flying reindeer on my phone but surprisingly there wasn't an app for that. I still don't get why I have Wi-Fi here. SIRI is so selectively useless."

"Why were you on the reindeer in the first place?" Santa asked.

"I wanted to see if he could actually fly. It didn't occur to me that I couldn't get down. I was just trying to disprove all major scientific discoveries in the past two hundred or so years. Nothing major."

"I like her." Bunny announced.

"You're not injured are you?" Tooth asked concerned.

"No I'm fine."

"Oh that's good wouldn't want anything happening to those teeth of yours."

"I feel the sudden urge to protect my gums."

"You get used to that," Bunny added, "She checks on everybody's teeth every time she sees them."

"So you all get mouth molested?"

The other guardians sniggered.

"It's not like that all!" Tooth tried to defend herself.

"So you don't randomly stick your hands into other people's mouths?"

"Sorry Tooth she has a bit of a point there." North admitted.

"Only to check if they're treating their teeth well!" Tooth looked a bit frantic as she tried to defend her actions.

"I'm sorry Tooth Fairy I didn't mean to upset you," Riley apologized, "It just seems kind of funny. You're teeth are very pretty."

Instantly Tooth Fairy went from upset to grinning.

"Why thank you I brush them six times a day. Eight if I have dessert."

"As much as I enjoy talking about Tooth's cleaning habits, we have things we need to do. Riley, we have to ask you some questions." Bunny interrupted.

"Fire away."

"Let's head back upstairs," North said.

In a few minutes everyone was sitting back at their places at the table. The atmosphere was a lot less jokey then it had been before but Riley tried not to let it bother her. After all she had ridden on a flying reindeer and while she might be slightly saddle sore, the experience was worth it even if the guardians did plan on sending her back.

"Riley tell us a bit about yourself," Santa prompted.

"Well I'm Riley. I'm a college student at a science school. I study physics because till five hours ago I believed everything could be explained with physics. I live in the New England where the winters are frigid. I spend my free time being an awesome nerd. My favorite time of the year is Christmas."

"See Christmas is better than Easter," Santa taunted Bunny.

"I'm an older sister to twin brothers."

"Oh I love twins. Multiple copies of the same teeth. Are they identical?"

"Yes although I've never thought about the teeth thing before."

Sandy made some motions with his hand.

"If I interpreted that correctly then yes I have a mom and a dad although my parents are divorced and I live with my mom and stepdad."

"See North? She's perfectly normal," Tooth said.

"I'm not sure normal is a way to describe a Tumblr fangirl, but other than that yes normal."

"Perhaps you are right and I overworked myself too much," North admitted.

"We should focus on getting you home, Shelia," Bunny pointed out, "If you point out where you live on the map I'll take you there through my tunnels."

"Nonsense we'll take my sleigh. Everybody loves the sleigh."

"North it's Christmastime. We should be careful with your sleigh."

"All the more reason to use it."

"I guess I am seriously late for my physics lecture," Riley contributed, "I'll grab my things why you guys decide how to travel."

Riley went to get her coats and boots from by the fire and she heard Santa and Bunny launch into another argument about who's holiday was better. She removed an elf who snuck into her pocket and went over to the globe. There was a control panel in front of it with a series of dials and buttons. A yeti helpfully showed her how to zoom in on the globe and select towns. Riley began searching for her college.

"Easter is a sign of hope and new life! Christmas occurs when everything is dead."

"Christmas is about wonder and hope when the season it's at it dreariest. Everyone loves a white Christmas."

"You know some of us work every night a year," Tooth pointed out, "You don't see us complaining."

Sandy contributed another golden picture.

"Hey guys," Riley called over her shoulder, "I think we have a problem. I can't find my college or my hometown."

"System can be tricky but I assure you it works. I run no Apple maps." North came over to the controls, "Just tell me and I'll help you find it."

Riley told him. Santa gave her a funny look but entered the names in the system and got no result. He tried again. Still nothing. He attempted to zoom in on the geographical area Riley said her college was and there was something else there instead. Same for her hometown. The guardians turned to stare at Riley.

"You're certainly a mystery, aren't you Sheila?"


	3. Not Again!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Riley settles into life at Santa's workshop until a series of events leads to her meeting the spirit of winter.

Chapter 3: Not Again!

"Snow is awesome!" Riley screamed as her sled zipped down the hill.

The yeti who was sitting on the back of her sleigh made a noise of terror and covered his eyes. Riley whooped as the sled flew up and over the ramp and launched Riley and the yeti into the air. The yeti, Carlos (as Riley had renamed him), screamed again before the two landed in a snow drift.

"Successful sled testing if I do say so myself," Riley giggled.

Carlos made a noise of disagreement as he shook snow from his fur.

"Useless," Riley called her phone, "Did you record our speed?"

"Speeds are noted. Would you like to save them?" the previously-known-as-SIRI asked.

"Yes."

"Numbers deleted."

"I hate you, Useless," Riley deadpanned.

"I hate you too, Riley."

"Carlos we really should check on my phone I think it's developing a personality. In the meantime, we'll need to do another run."

Carlos looked like he was going to be sick at that option, but thankfully (for Carlos at least) Santa interrupted the two by calling Riley in.

"Riley, Tooth is here. Also elves stole cookies again!" Santa called from the window.

"Coming, Santa," Riley waved good-bye to a relieved looking Carlos and headed inside. Once inside she quickly removed her boots, bright red coat, and gloves and tossed them to the side. Her red coat and redhead status (although her hair was more of a bright orange than red) had earned Riley the nickname "Little Red" from Bunny.

Riley had been living with Santa for several months, but the other guardians came to visit. Finding out that's one home simply didn't exist or ever existed along with being introduced to Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, Sandman, and the Tooth Fairy was a lot. Finding all that out in addition to finding out there is no record you or of any person you have ever met is enough to make some people have a mental breakdown. Riley was proud to say she took all the news as best she could. She had simply asked if there was a place she could lie down for a bit. Santa led her to a spare bedroom where Riley thanked him, closed the door, and then burst into tears.

The morning after a few things had been discovered. First, Tooth had no record of Riley's teeth but that didn't stop her from dropping by every few weeks to see if some long forgotten unmarked teeth were hers. Second, that Riley still had a tumblr account (Thank the Gods for that one) but she couldn't comment, post or reblog; the same applied to Facebook but Facebook hadn't updated since her first day here; and all of the numbers and e-mails in her phone were said to "not exist." The guardians had decided that Riley should stay with one of them till further notice (that had been four months ago) and Santa was chosen when Riley revealed her ability to make kickass snickerdoodles. It wasn't all Christmas songs and eggnog though. Being separated from all of her friends and family (especially for the holidays) was tough and Riley had cried a number of times when the intensity of the situation hit her. Still Santa's workshop was literally the happiest place on Earth (yes even better than Disneyland) and Riley passed her time making cookies, testing toys, annoying yetis, and riding reindeer.

"I found these in the wrong historical section," Tooth flew over to Riley and pried open her mouth, "Can you believe these were placed in the 18th century when they are clearly 20th century?"

"Nght's nhmm to swee ou tou," Riley attempted to talk around the hands in her mouth.

Tooth pretended not to notice and extracted her hands from Riley's mouth. She began pulling out teeth and holding them up to Riley's mouth.

"No, no, too small, not symmetrical enough," Tooth muttered to herself as she tried tooth after tooth, "No! None of these are it!"

"It's okay Tooth," Riley comforted her, "It's nothing new. Did you notice I've been flossing more?"

"Yes, your gums did seem healthier," Tooth gave her a weak smile, "Look I have to dash, sledding accidents you know, but I have a hunch about some misplaced early 1920s. I'll see you soon, sweetie. Tell North I say bye."

Riley nodded and waved as Tooth hurriedly flew out the window. The guardians were nice but they were busy. Bunny came less and less as Easter grew closer and Santa was free immediately after Christmas but got busier with every passing day. Also, the guardians were hundreds of years older than her and they were unsure whether to treat Riley like a kid or an adult. Even with the internet Riley wished for someone her own age to hang out with, but Riley was kept away from all humans and hadn't seen a person in months. No use dwelling on that though, Riley headed off to start another batch of cookies for Santa. Where Santa put them all Riley couldn't figure out for the life of her.

"If you attempt to lick the cookie tray you'll burn your tongue," Riley informed one of the elves as she attempted to balance a plate of cookies while putting on her coat.

One brave elf leapt from the top of the counter towards the cookie plate. It was a very graceful dive through the air but was ruined when Riley moved and the elf missed its target and hit the floor.

"Serves you right for stealing my socks," Riley said leaving the kitchen.

She used to be worried about mistreating the elves but they were mischievous little things and recovered quickly enough anyway.

"Santa, I brought you cookies," Riley announced opening the door to Santa's private workroom.

"Look what I built!" Santa proclaimed.

It was a beautiful ice sculpture shaped like a track. Santa was quite good at building these things and his magic with toys made them even better. The room was full of ice sculptures, odd trinkets, and toy designs that Santa built for himself or was designing for the children. The objects spun and danced and moved beautifully and sometimes Riley caught herself staring at them for periods of time. Sliding the plate of cookies onto the table, she leaned forward to inspect Santa's newest creation.

"What's this one do?" she asked.

"Watch," and with that Santa placed a little toy plane on top of the slope. It slid down the track through the loop and off the ramp so it flew around the room. The moment would have been beautiful if it weren't for the elves who burst through the doorway and almost tripped Santa.

"What did I tell you?" Santa yelled at them, "Stay out from under feet!"

Riley laughed, "Santa I'm going to go finish testing sleds with Carlos."

"Go, go," Santa waved her off, "I'll deal with these things."

At that moment cries of panic arose from the yetis in the workshop and Santa (who could actually speak yeti) rushed over to the globe. Riley quickly followed, intrigued and a bit frightened about what could have the yetis so upset. The globe had black dust that was forming around it. The dust was gaining speed as it covered more and more of the glove and blocking the lights of the believers.

"Pitch," Santa growled.

The yetis were in full panic now and the elves were running around frantically trying to find a place to hide. Riley was rooted to the spot with fear. Suddenly an evil laugh filled the room and a face emerged from the dust.

"Santa," Riley whispered, hating how scared she sounded.

"What's this North?" a chilly voice mocked, "Do we have a believer right here?"

"Yetis," Santa barked, "Get Riley to safety. Pitch, I will not let you harm the children!"

Riley didn't hear anything else as she was dragged away by a pair of yetis.

"Santa!" Riley shouted, "Santa! What's going on?"

The yetis paid her no heed as they took her into the room full of snow globes and dropped her on the floor. Riley had been in the room once before when Santa gave her a tour. He had explained that the snow globes acted as portals. At the time Riley had launched into a speech about wormholes and the energy it took to have such a thing and proclaiming how it was impossible to have a room full of things. Santa had given her a look and Riley went "Oh right Magic. Forgot about how it overrules all physics. Shutting up now."

She had been told not to touch any as she could be transported anywhere in the globe by accident. Just like she lacked baby teeth at Tooth's, Riley didn't show up on the globe as a believer and she also wasn't affected by Sandy's sand. Santa had gone to wake her up one morning and had panicked when he noticed the lack of golden dreams above her head. He had thought Riley had passed away and once Riley had been woken up, Sandy had been called to double check that theory.

"We can still feel your belief Little Red," Bunny had told her, "But it doesn't seem to have any effect on us and we don't have any effect on you."

"Magically you mean," Riley corrected, "I believe you have plenty of effect on me. Otherwise I wouldn't be getting mouth molested by Tooth all the time."

At the time Bunny had smiled and laughed. Riley really wished Bunny was here now. She felt alone and frightened and guilty for leaving Santa with that black creature. The yetis appeared to be arguing now, waving their arms around frantically. One of them accidently hit the shelf full of globes. Without even thinking about, Riley leaned forward to catch one but missed and had it crash at her feet. Immediately there a sinking feeling in her stomach as the floor disappeared and for the second time in less than six months, Riley was accidently magically transported to locations unknown.

Santa's portals were better and worse in some ways then Bunny's tunnels (even if Bunny claimed the tunnel wasn't his). The trip was certainly shorter but it left this queasy feeling in her stomach. Also if one was unprepared to travel by portal the landing wasn't easy. Riley knew because she fallen directly out of the portal and face-first into a pile of snow. Quickly, Riley got up and spun around trying to see where she was.

"Not again!" Riley wailed at the sky.

Once again Riley had been deposited in some unknown location. At least this time she wasn't in the middle of nowhere. It was clear she had landed in some small town park. She could see the shops and schools and houses beyond the park. There was a layer of snow on the ground. She must have been placed farther north for it to snow this late in the season. Well that gave her some idea of where she was. Not that it was much help.

"Useless," Riley called her phone, "Find my location."

"I cannot locate where you are."

"You're f-ing shitting me," Riley's cursing habit came back with a vengeance, "I understand the middle of nowhere and possibly magical interference but we are clearly in a town. It has cell towers and lights and everything so you should be able to locate where I am."

"I cannot find your location."

"ARGH!" Riley screamed in frustration at her phone and barely refrained from throwing it across the park. After all the phone was all she had on her. Her wallet, ID, and even her physics notebook were still at Santa's.

"Would you like to see the directions?" Useless asked her suddenly.

Riley's eyes widened.

"We're doing this again, seriously?" she asked it, "Mysterious directions from no one. There's only so much I can blame Apple maps for."

"Would you like to see the directions?" her phone repeated.

Riley thought about it for a moment. The directions had saved her last time and they could be mysteriously helpful again. Besides what choice did she have? It wasn't like she could call Santa. He couldn't locate her because she didn't exist on the globe. She was either going to have to wait till Easter in two days or knock out some child's tooth in hopes of attracting Tooth Fairy.

"Alright," she sighed, "Show me the directions."

"Showing you the way," the phone told her.

"I'm seriously worried about that personality you're developing," Riley informed her phone, "You're very sassy for an Apple product. I always thought Microsoft would be the sassy one."

The phone didn't reply to that taunt and instead pulled up directions for Riley to follow. She began to follow them, humming some Christmas tunes under her breath. Sure it was the wrong season but living with Santa had its effects. Suddenly a crowd of small children nearly ran her over. They were all following this one boy who was holding a tooth above his head triumphantly. Unless this town had weird Satanic rituals, Riley guessed he had lost his tooth and the others were overjoyed about a visit from the Tooth Fairy. Riley had to refrain herself from stealing the tooth. It would emotionally traumatize the boy. Also there were too many witnesses around and she lacked a pillow to sneak it under.

"Who cares about the stupid Tooth Fairy?" a frustrated voice yelled behind her, "Come on we were having so much fun!"

Riley turned around. She didn't know what she was expecting but it wasn't this. A few feet behind her floated a young man. He looked like he had never seen the sun and had hair as white as snow. In his hands was what looked like Shepard's hook and the boy was clothed in only a hoodie and pants for the winter. He wore no socks or shoes and frost covered his clothes. In a moment Riley flashbacked to the conversation she had had with Santa months ago about the other magical beings. Sure, she had never met any of them but she had heard Bunny go on and on about the groundhog. Tooth had mentioned a run in with cupid once and Sandy one time drew a party with him and some leprechauns. So Riley had never doubted the other's existence even if she never saw them. But she had never expected one to look so young and so well hot. Tumblr would have made several butt jokes by now, but all Riley could do was blush. She felt her heart give a wild thump. Oh no, by the looks of it Riley had the hots for Jack Frost and the very thought caused her stomach to feel as if a swarm of butterflies all suddenly took flight. Oh no, Riley had the hots for Jack Frost and her brain had been reduced to that of a preteen at a Justin Bieber concert. She was fucked.

Wait! Riley's brain suddenly decided to recover. Santa. The black dust! Some man named Pitch. She had to get back to help. Jack was a magical being. He should be able to help. She wouldn't even have to steal a tooth from a small child! Jack wasn't looking at Riley, he was staring after the kids. If Riley went by what the other guardians said only believers could see Jack so all of the adults must not. She would look like a crazy person if she tried to talk to him here. Also, if the other guardians reactions were anything to go by, she was a bit too old to still believe in him so he probably wasn't expecting her to talk to him. Riley was going to have to wait till they were somewhere more private. Oh Tumblr would be so proud, Riley was going to stalk a hot guy. Actually Tumblr would ask for pictures of his ass. Pulling up her hood and taking out her phone Riley pretended to be casually walking along, keeping one eye on Jack Frost. She opened the camera app. If she was going to stalk she needed proof. Also a picture of his Jack's butt wouldn't hurt anyone.

It took a while for Riley to get Jack alone. He had floated around above town and Riley had tried to keep out of sight as much as possible. Night had fallen and frankly Riley was hungry and cold, but she could do it. She just hoped Santa was alright. Finally the streets seemed to empty and Riley watched as Jack spied on a house. Sensing her opportunity, she stepped out from her hiding spot. Jack didn't seem to notice her and he was floating much too high above her head for Riley to tap his shoulder.

"Hey," she shouted up at him, "I need to talk to you."

Jack looked utterly bewildered at the sound of her voice and Riley hated to admit that his confusion was adorable.

"Yes you," Riley said when Jack pointed to himself uncertainly, "You're Jack Frost right?"

Suddenly, Jack was in front of Riley's face. She felt her face turn red hot and Riley barely stopped herself from flailing backwards.

"You can see me?" Jack asked.

His eyes were this intense light blue and Tooth would love his teeth they were so goddamn white. Riley felt her brain briefly short-circuit for a moment but quickly recovered.

"Yes I can and I need you to help me save Christmas."

"You can see me!" a grin spread across Jack's face, "No one has ever seen me before."

Briefly the thought of "oh shit what have I done?" crossed Riley's mind but she was distracted by Jack's actions. He seemed to be on cloud nine as he flew around Riley inspecting her from angle. He pulled off her hood and inspected her from every angle.

"What makes you different?" he asked her, "Why can you see me?"

"Trust me I'm not at all normal," Riley tried to get back on topic, "And I was kind of serious about needing you to help me save Christmas."

"Aren't you a little late for that?" Jack smirked at her, "Easter is in two days."

"I know that," Riley tried to explain but was cut off again.

"What makes you different? Why after all this time are you the only one to see me? Do you," Jack paused for a moment, "Do you believe in me?"

"Of course I do," Riley was losing her temper and she had to keep twisting her head to look at Jack as he floated around her, "And I swear if you don't stay still for two minutes I'm going to take your cane and use it to hurt your very real dick. I don't care how cute your ass is."

Jack laughed and grinned.

"Cute ass you say," he leaned in close, "Can't say I've ever been called that before."

"Yes, today apparently has a lot of firsts for you," Riley replied sarcastically, "Now if you don't sit your ass down and listen to me it's also going to be the first day you have ass kicked by a girl."

"My first believer has such a fiery temper how ironic," Jack taunted.

He gave into Riley's requests though and floated in front of her in a seated position. He propped his chin against his cane and looked at her.

"Finally," Riley breathed a sigh of relief, "Look I need your help. Santa is in trouble and through a yeti mix up I got sent here. I can't be located by magical means and I have no way to contact Santa so I need your help to get to the North Pole."

"Sorry, they yetis won't let me anywhere near the workshop. Besides I'm sure Santa is fine," Jack blew off Riley's request.

Riley reached out and grabbed Jack's hoodie and pulled him close. The position wasn't really threatening because Jack was taller than her and flying, which was the reason Riley could pull him at all. But it got her point across.

"I lost my entire world four months ago," Riley told him angrily, "I had nobody in the entire world and Santa took me in. He's been watching out for me for four months. He fed me and clothed me and entertained me. He didn't have too. He could have left me to freeze in the snow, but he didn't. Now he was attacked earlier today by some black creature and he risked his safety to make sure I got away. I couldn't help him when he needed me most but I will make sure he's okay and you will help me find Santa, got that?"

For a moment Jack looked sympathetic. All jokes and tricks and laughing were gone. Instead he raised his hand to Riley's and uncurled her fingers from his jacket.

"I'll help you find him," he said and gave her fingers a soft squeeze.


	4. Too Cool for Rules

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Riley attempts to get Jack Frost to help her save Christmas. Jack is easily distracted.

Chapter 4: Too Cool for Rules

Riley decided two things in that moment. One that Jack Frost actually had a heart beneath his cold exterior and two that she was going to have to keep these sentimental moments to a minimum or else she couldn't be held responsible for her actions.

"Thanks," Riley wondered if it would be impolite to let go of his hand, "Besides I promise we can hang out once Santa is fine."

"Really?" Jack looked a bit like a hungry child she was dangling a cookie in front of.

How could she possibly say no to a face like that? It should be illegal to look that cute.

"Of course. I haven't seen anyone but the guardians in months. There are only so many times I can terrify the yetis by taking them sledding before they refuse to go sledding with me. I have a feeling you'll like sledding."

Jack smirked at Riley, "You haven't been sledding till you've been sledding with me."

"Really now?" Riley teased, "Because I went belly sliding through Bunny's tunnels and let me tell you, that is a sledding experience."

"The Easter Bunny let you in his tunnels?"

"Well, no," Riley explained embarrassed, "I fell in one. That's how I ended up at the North Pole. Though Bunny swears up and down that it wasn't his tunnel but seriously do you know any other six foot rabbits?"

"He seems more like a kangaroo to me."

"That would explain so much."

"Don't let him hear you say that," Jack released Riley's hand and floated back a bit.

"Trust me I already annoy Bunny enough by calling him fluffy. Apparently six foot bunnies with egg bombs don't like being called fluffy. Or adorable either."

"There's nothing cute about species-confused kangaroos. Apparently though I have a cute ass."

"You're never going to let that one go are you?" Riley deadpanned.

"Nope," Jack grinned cheekily, "Come on we have a fat man in a suit to save."

"Right. Okay how are we going to get to the North Pole?"

"All you have to do is ask," Jack called out, "Wind!"

Suddenly the wind grew in strength and Riley felt herself panic for a moment as she was pushed heavily by the wind. The moment her feet left the ground, Riley flew forward into the air. It was a terrifyingly exhilarating moment. The absolute joy of leaving behind the ground and laughing at gravity coupled with the fear that she had no control over the wind and it would let her down at any moment. Jack caught her as the wind pushed her forward.

"That's cool," Riley laughed nervously, "Gravity is for losers anyway. Who needs the force of the rotation of the Earth? Not me. I'm too cool to obey the rules of the universe."

Jack laughed and pulled her further upward. Riley pushed down the urge to ask "don't let go" as she refused to look like a wimp. Besides she had ridden on magical flying reindeer before. This wasn't that different except that she couldn't see what was holding her up. The lack of control was exactly like riding a reindeer though. She still hadn't mastered reindeer riding even with four months of practice. Although Riley doubted there was an app for learning how to fly by wind either.

Suddenly the sky filled with golden light. It spread out and weaved its way through the air and into houses through windows and doors.

"Sandman's work," Jack explained looking on a bit longingly, "Every night he gives dreams to millions of children and in turn they believe in him."

"Eh, I like Sandy but it has to suck being him," Riley joked, "He always has sand in his pants."

Jack gave her a look.

"Not my best joke, huh? Sorry I have weakness for terrible puns. That and ugly Christmas sweaters. I'm Riley by the way. Figured if you have to put up with my jokes you should have a name you can curse out."

"And here I thought your name was smartass."

"Shut up Snowflakes-for-Brain."

"I think I prefer cuteass." Jack winked at her, "Gives me more self-esteem."

"I highly doubt you need a bigger ego, Snowball," the rest of Riley's retort was cut off by a sudden movement on the ground.

Quickly and quietly, Jack landed the two on the ground. Well Jack landed with ease and grace while Riley lost her footing and barely managed to keep herself from face planting again. She really wasn't good with landings. Jack pressed a finger to his lips and the two of them snuck forward. They rounded a corner into an alley way but there was nothing there.

"It's been a long time Jack Frost," Bunny emerged from the shadows, "The blizzard of '68 I believe."

"Don't tell me you're still upset about that," Jack smirked.

He clearly liked agitating Bunnymund. Bunny was about to retort but Riley stepped out from where she had been hiding behind Jack. (She wasn't being a coward, she was being smart. Jack had super magical powers and she had bad jokes. Clearly his skills were more useful in a fight.)

"Fluffy Bunny!" Riley called rushing forward to give Bunny a hug, "Have you heard from Santa is he alright?"

Riley didn't think it was possible, but apparently bunnies could blush. The Easter Bunny turned a lovely shade of red at Riley's nickname for him.

"Little Red you sure have a way of ruining the moment," Bunny attempted to act gruff with her.

It wouldn't work. Riley had seen Bunny slip on the ice at the North Pole more times than Bunny would care to admit. Also, she had seen him lovingly stare at a carrot cake Santa made once. She really couldn't see him as the badass of the guardians. That title belonged to Santa and perhaps Sandy. Besides at the end of day Bunnymund was still a bunny and bunnies were cute even when they were killing machines (like the one in Monty Python).

"Sorry am I throwing off your street cred?" Riley asked, "Go ahead and go back to taunting each other. I'll wait till you're done."

With that Riley took a step to the side and gestured for the two to proceed.

"So to what do I owe the visit, Fluffy?" Jack mocked.

"I am not Fluffy," Bunny growled, "North's called a meeting, Jack. You're needed."

"Thanks but no thanks," Jack waved him off, "I'm perfectly fine here."

"You don't get an option," Bunny informed him.

With that two yetis also emerged from the shadows and they quickly caught Jack and threw him in a sack. Bunny took out a snow globe and tossed it against the nearest wall. The yetis walked through taking the sack full of Jack with them. Bunny turned to Riley.

"We've been looking for you Little Red," Bunny told her, "North's been pulling his hair out. Between you and Pitch and Jack I'm surprised he still has his beard."

"So Santa's alright, this Pitch guy didn't hurt him?" Riley verified.

"No. Pitch's visit was more a warning. But now the Man in the Moon has called all of us together. Something big is about to go down."

"That doesn't sound good. Why do you need Jack? I mean I'm happy you needed him cause you found me, but Jack doesn't seem to care about the rest of you."

"The Man in the Moon selected him as the new guardian. He seems to think we'll need the help. We're better off without him if you ask me."

"Don't sell him short, Bunny. He may be a smartass but Jack seems like a good person. He was willing to take me to the North Pole to check on Santa. I may have had to knock some sense into his head but he came around."

"Let's hope you knocked enough sense into that thick head of his."

"You're awfully stubborn yourself."

"How did you end up here, Shelia?" Bunny changed the subject.

"Yetis dropped a snow globe and then my phone interfered again. I'm a bit worried about the random directions it keeps giving me. One day it's going to lead me off a cliff."

Bunny gave the phone Riley held out a look.

"There's something wrong with that phone," he muttered.

"You're preaching to the choir, Fluffy."

"For the last time, I am not fluffy!"

"You're a giant rabbit of course you are. Now let's get into this portal before it closes. I'm sure the others are worried."

Bunny looked like he wanted to argue more but closed his mouth and the two of them jumped into the portal. (Of which Riley of course landed terribly on the other side. It really was a nasty habit).

"Santa!" Riley ran forward to give the man a hug.

Sure her hands couldn't even reach halfway around his waist but it was the thought that counts.

"Riley!" Santa squished her in his arms and lifted her off the ground, "Glad we found you. I was worried."

"Thanks Santa, I was worried too," Riley told him, "We need to get some sort of locater for me."

"Oh Riley, I'm so glad Jack found you," Tooth buzzed around, "You're not hurt you. Pitch didn't come after you?"

"At worst I'm a little hungry," Riley confessed, "Santa can you put me down? Where is Jack anyway?"

"Oh, right," Santa said dropping Riley and clapping his hands, "Yetis!"

The two yeti from before came forward and dumped open the sack. Jack came tumbling out.

"Welcome Jack Frost to the North Pole!" Santa greeted.

Jack didn't look happy at being kidnapped but he was definitely wonderstruck by Santa's workshop.

"You already know Riley and Bunny," Santa introduced everybody, "This is Tooth and Sandy."

Jack wasn't really paying attention as he attempted to turn his head every which way to see the workshop.

"You know I've been trying to sneak in here for years," Jack threw out.

"What?" Santa asked astonished.

"Relax," Jack poked one the nearby yetis with his cane, "I could never get pass the yetis. So what's the reason for calling me here? Easter kangaroo over there said you needed me. Am I on the naughty list?"

He flashed a half grin after the last statement and Riley felt herself blush. She tried to remind herself that this wasn't Tumblr and Jack most certainly didn't mean it the way she thought he did. Her stomach was doing funny things again and she had to restrain herself from hiding her blushing face in her hands.

"Hoho. You make me laugh," Santa turned serious for a moment, "You hold record"

The little fangirl that occupied part of Riley's brain died at the statement, but she quickly recovered in order to fangirl about Jack more.

"I am not a kangaroo," Bunny defended himself.

"Really?" Jack pretended to be sincere, "Could have fooled me."

"You!" Bunny growled before turning to the other guardians, "Look we don't really need him. He's an immature brat with no respect or responsibility."

"Hey! I do my job!"

"Now Jack," Santa clapped his hands on Jack's shoulder, "We know you do and that's why we brought you here."

"You mean kidnapped me?" Jack asked sarcastically, "Whose brilliant idea was that?"

"That was mine!" Santa announced before turning to Sandy, "Told you it was a good idea."

"Santa, sarcasm," Riley pointed out.

She had been trying to educate the man on the usage of sarcasm but she might have well been teaching one of the yetis for all the good it did.

"Oh I can't take it anymore!" Tooth flew over to Jack and opened his mouth, "Oh they weren't lying. Look how pretty those teeth are! Oh they really do sparkle like freshly fallen snow!"

The mini faeries swooned at the sight of Jack's teeth.

"Good job, Tooth you waited a whole thirty seconds before mouth molesting him," Riley had actually timed Tooth.

Jack was rubbing his mouth and looked both confused and amused at what was happening.

"Alright, alright everyone we need to focus," Santa clapped his hands for attention.

A yeti came forward with a giant book and presented it to Santa. The other yetis and elves proceeded to line up and some elves took out instruments. They began to play music and Jack looked as lost as Riley felt.

"Now Jack Frost, as a guardian do you accept your," Santa began.

"What?" Jack asked confused, "Look I don't want to join your little club. I have no desire to bribe children and make them fat."

"Watch it you," Bunny warned.

"The Man in the Moon has selected you as new guardian," Santa explained before beginning again, "Now Jack Frost, as a guardian,"

The music was blasting louder than before. Jack quickly went from looking confused to looking angry. He tried to get in a few words but Santa kept going with the ceremony. Eventually, Jack snapped.

"STOP!" he shouted, slamming his cane into the floor.

An icy wind blasted through the whole room and ring of ice surrounded the floor Jack stood on. The music died suddenly and Santa stopped talking.

"I don't want to be a guardian! I don't want to join your club," Jack yelled frustrated, "Besides what use would I be? Nobody believes in me anyway. The only thing the Man in the Moon ever said to me was my name. After all this time he just expects me to jump on board with this? No. No way. Go find yourself a new guardian."

"But Jack," Santa started, "He has chosen you."

"Then he made a mistake," Jack bit out before freezing the trumpet of one of the elves and storming off.

"Oh dear," Tooth whispered.

"Told you this was a bad idea," Bunny said, "Did anyone listen to me? No."

"What should we do?" asked Tooth.

"Seriously?" Riley turned to the others stunned, "You've been alive for hundreds of years and you don't know how to handle one teenager?"

"We mostly work with children," Santa admitted, "You are most interaction we've had with teenagers in centuries."

"Well that's a little sad," Riley admitted, "Also I'm no basis for normal teenagers. At all. Seriously. Remember the flame thrower incident?"

There was a group wince at that one.

"Why don't you go talk to him Riley?" Tooth suggested, "Calm him down a bit. Then one of us can come in. I think what Jack needs right now is a friend."

Riley mulled this over for a moment.

"Alright I'll go. Santa should go after. Bunny won't be any help and Tooth I don't want you to mouth molest him. Also someone should wake up Sandy. He fell asleep."

With that Riley turned and headed in the direction Jack stormed off. She eventually found him, with help of some yetis, in a small alcove on the window seat staring out the window. It occurred to Riley at that moment that where she could relate to Jack, she had no idea what to actually say to him. Oh well, when all else fails awkward always breaks the ice.

"Soooo," Riley began, "You do know you froze that elf's fingers to his trumpet right?"

Jack grunted but didn't give any other acknowledgement.

"Really icicle elf didn't make you laugh? I'd figure that'd be right up your alley humor-wise."

No response. Okay Riley was actually going to have to put away the bad jokes and be sentimental. She could do this she had to be sincere. She had to express her feelings in a relatable way. Yeah, no wasn't going to happen.

"Move over cuteass," she pushed him slightly and took a seat as well.

Jack actually let a small smile slip at that one.

"Oh look there are those pretty teeth that make all the faeries soon. Use your power for good, okay? We don't need to traumatize them."

Jack raised an eyebrow at that one. Okay Riley was getting somewhere. Woo! Ten points to Gryffindor.

"Look, I can sort of understand being lonely," Riley began, "I can't understand being a guardian but I understand your desired to be believed in. I think everybody, magical and not, wants someone to believe in them. Having someone believe in you means they support you and recognize you for who you are and that's wonderful. You can believe in yourself all you want but it feels so good to have someone believe in you. So I have a deal. I already believe in you, in more than the "you exist" way. I think you're a good person Jack. Yeah a smartass, but a good person. You were willing to help me when you didn't even know my name. You love those kids. You want to see them happy. You don't have to become a guardian but I think you'd be a good one."

"The deal," Jack pointed out, "What's the deal?"

"Oh, since I already believe in you, you have to believe in me. In return, I'll hang out with you. I get lonely too. I've taken to renaming the yetis."

"I'll do you one better," Jack offered, "As my only believer I'll protect you. I'm not going to become a guardian but your worth keeping around."

"Aw my sense of humor is worth keeping around. How nice."

"Yeah that's the reason," Jack rolled his eyes.

"Good, if you're feeling better I have to go find Santa. He's supposed to talk to you about the whole guardian thing. I'm going to steal some cookies from the elves if you want any," Riley said getting up.

"I'm fine," Jack said.

"Kay, you'll make the right decision Jack," Riley smiled and began walking away, "I believe in you."

"Riley," Jack called after her.

Riley turned around.

"You have a cute ass too," Jack smirked.

Riley felt her face heart up and she might have mumbled something about cookies and elves before dashing off. Oh she had it bad.


	5. Fluffy Bunny

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Riley attempts to pass the time as the plot gets started.

Chapter 5: Fluffy Bunny

Santa was off talking to Jack and Tooth had gone off to check on something at her palace. Riley decided it was a wonderful time to teach the game fluffy bunny to Bunny and Sandy. After explaining the rules and locating a bag of marshmallows, they began.

"Fluffy bunny," Riley said with one marshmallow in her mouth.

"Fluffy bunny," Bunny said with one marshmallow in his mouth.

Riley snorted at that.

"I'm not going to play if you keep doing that," Bunny threatened.

"Sorry," Riley apologized, although she really wasn't. There was something hilarious about seeing a super tough bunny, who refused to be called a fluffy bunny, stuffing marshmallows in his mouth.

Sandy put a marshmallow in his mouth and formed a picture above his head.

"I see an issue with Sandy playing," Riley noted.

Bunny nodded in agreement but they continued the game anyway. It would have been rude to not include Sandy, even if he did have the advantage.

"Fwuffy bwunny," Riley mumbled around the five marshmallows in her mouth.

"Fluwwy Buwnny," Bunny was doing better than Riley.

Sandy drew another perfect picture. Riley threw her arms up in the air in a sign of defeat. Bunny hurriedly stuffed another marshmallow in his mouth hoping to ensure victory. It was of course at this moment that Santa and Jack came back. Santa took one look at the three of them, two of which were supposed to be guardians of the world, and started laughing. Jack just had an amused smile on his face. Riley was a bit mortified to be caught in such a position and turned her back in order to chew and swallow her marshmallows.

"You lose, Little Red," Bunny told her.

Riley quickly swallowed her marshmallows and spun around.

"It's not fair! You have a bigger mouth than me," Riley defended herself.

"How am I not fair but Sandy is?"

"Sandy is cooler than you."

Sandy gave a thumbs up at that. The moment was interrupted by the globe making a loud bell sound and a flashing red section appeared somewhere in the North Pacific. Santa ran over to the globe.

"Tooth has pushed the distress button," he explained, "We need to go."

Santa turned to Jack.

"I'll help," Jack said, no promises of commitment.

Santa nodded.

"Let's take the sleigh," Santa told them, "Everybody loves the sleigh."

The other guardians began running around, gathering their supplies. They were expecting a fight. Riley had a moment of indecision. She was worried about Tooth. No matter how many mouth molesting jokes she made she still cared about the fairy. However, everyone else had super magical powers something Riley lacked. Santa was taking the sleigh though. The super awesome Christmas sleigh which Riley had only seen once when Santa took off on Christmas eve. That thing was Santa's baby, he loved it and none of elves nor Riley were allowed near it. Santa's sleigh. Yeah, she had to go with them. Quickly, Riley pulled on her winter equipment. She put her phone in her pocket and grabbed a small bag which she threw a few things in. Then she snuck off to the stables.

"Everyone to the sleigh!" Santa commanded as he sat in the front and took the reins.

Jack, Bunny, and Sandy climbed in the back. Bunny looked more than a little nervous.

"We could take my tunnels," Bunny offered.

"Oh are you a scared little rabbit?" Jack mocked.

Before Bunny could answer, Riley appeared next to the sleigh.

"I'm coming too," Riley told them.

"It's not safe," Santa argued, "Stay here. We'll be back."

"It's not any safer here. What if Pitch comes back? What if the yetis can't protect me? What if the yetis accidently send me someplace again? What if my phone comes to life and tries to kill me? It's not any safer here. I'm going too."

Santa looked like he was going to argue some more but he didn't have any words. Instead, he opened and closed his mouth a few times. Riley grinned and climbed in the sleigh.

"Move over Snowball," she told Jack.

"There's plenty of room on my lap," Jack winked at her.

"Hands to self, Jack!" Santa yelled over his shoulder, "Now buckle up!"

With that the reindeer made a mad dash forward and Riley was thrown into the seat beside Jack. The reindeers were approaching an ice tunnel with a sharp dip downwards.

"Where are the bloody seat belts?!" Bunny screamed in terror.

"That was just an expression," Santa laughed, "There are none!"

And with that the sled began plunging downwards.

"Holy mother of god!" Riley cursed.

Bunny was holding onto whatever he could reach and looked like he was about to be ill. Sandy had put his arms up in the air like a roller coaster. Santa was ho-ho-hoing while cracking the reins and Jack was laughing. They took a series of sharp turns and drops through the ice tunnels. Riley wished for seat belts. This would be so much more fun if she had a seat belt or magical powers that prevented her from going splat on the ground.

"This is like the most terrifying roller coaster ever!" she screamed.

The tunnel began to slope upwards and Bunny looked like he was about to be ill as they shot out of the tunnel and into the sky. Finally, the sleigh stopped climbing upwards and began coasting forwards. Riley's heart was racing but she had a huge grin across her face.

"Oh that wasn't that bad," she sighed.

"You did better than the Easter Kangaroo over there," Jack pointed to Bunny who was practically hugging the bench he was sitting on.

Bunny groaned but was too sick to get mad at Jack.

"It's the best way to travel!" Santa yelled from the front.

Riley peaked over the edge of the sleigh. She was careful to hang on tightly because the wind was powerful up here. All below her were mountains and endless snow. Nature at its best. It was really quite beautiful.

"Takes your breath away, doesn't it?" she asked Jack when he came to stand beside her.

"Well I am a fan of snow," Jack smirked.

"Shut up, smart ass and appreciate the moment," she told him.

"I have a better idea," Jack winked at her before turning to Bunny, "Bunny you really should have a look. It's nice up here."

Bunny glared at Jack clearly not enthused with the idea of being hundreds of feet in the air.

"Suit yourself," Jack said climbing a little further up the sled, "Woah woah!"

Jack lost his balance and toppled over the edge of the sledge. Riley felt her heart leap in fear before she realized that she could see Jack sitting on the bottom of the sleigh. He winked at her. Bunny, who couldn't see Jack from his position, looked horrified and leapt up to peer over the edge.

Jack placed his hand over his heart in a dramatic fashion while proclaiming, "Oh look. You really do care."

Jack used the wind to fly back up to the sleigh and took his seat besides Riley.

"You're really quite an asshole you know that?" Riley asked.

"I prefer the term trickster," Jack lounged in his seat, "Besides I thought girls like a guy with a sense of humor."

"You can do better Little Red," Bunny told her while glaring at Jack.

"I don't know out of all her options here, I'm clearly the winner," Jack grinned.

"I'm also you're only immediate choice unless you and Bunny's fighting is secret sexual tension," Riley pointed out.

Both Jack and Bunny made disgusted faces at that.

"I happen to have a Mrs. Bunny back home, Sheila!" Bunny informed her.

"He's not really my type. To begin with I'm not into kangaroos."

"I'm a bunny!"

"A fluffy bunny!" Riley supplied helpfully.

"A fluffy bunny!" Bunny announced before realizing his mistake.

Jack and Riley burst out laughing. The moment was interrupted when Santa took a snow globe from his pocket and launched it into the air in front of them. The portal opened and the sleigh flew through.

Once on the other side, it was immediately clear something was amiss. There were sounds of tiny high-pitched screams in the distance. The guardians cast wary looks at each other and Santa urged the reindeer forward. In the distance black horses were running through the skies, little specks of blue and green could be seen flying in front of them, and other specks were located in the belly of the black creatures. Jack launched himself from the sleigh, flying towards one of the creatures. Riley didn't get to see what happened next because one of the horses came charging at the sleigh. The reindeer had to make a sharp turn and the sleigh practically turned on its side. Riley felt herself slip in her seat but she managed to grab on. Another horse ran into the sleigh. Riley's fingers slipped and before she realized what was happening she was falling through the sky. Sandy attempted to catch her, but Riley literally fell through his sand. It had no effect on her. At the last second Bunny launched from his seat, golden dust formed a rope around his waist, and Bunny jumped out of the sleigh to snatch Riley from mid-air. Sandy's rope pulled snug his waist and the two jolted a bit before stopping.

"Got ya, Little Red," Bunny said holding her close.

Riley hugged Bunny tightly. She had never been so grateful for the rabbit. She had been so frightened. Completely powerless to stop herself while she fell to the unknowns and most likely her death. It was terrifying. And Bunny. Bunny who feared heights. He had jumped to save her.

"I'll never call you a fluffy bunny again!" Riley whimpered attempting to hold back tears, "You're the biggest toughest rabbit there ever was."

Bunny chuckled softly as Sandy pulled the two back inside the sleigh. Immediately Riley let go of Bunny so that she could hug Sandy.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" she exclaimed.

Sandy patted her gently on the back and Riley released him from her hug. More horses were charging at the sleigh.

"It's no use," Santa bellowed, "We'll have to land."

With that the sleigh began a sharp descent downward. The reindeer managed to land but the sleigh had too much momentum and skidded around a bit before finally stopping. Bunny looked like he was about to be ill and Riley was still shaking from her fall.

"You monster!" Tooth screeched.

Riley looked up to see Tooth on another floating platform some distance away. In front of her stood the black dust man from the globe, except now he was more formed. He was tall, clothed in black, and his face was a gaunt greyish color with black hair. He seemed to be taunting Tooth but Riley was too far away to hear. If she were to guess he was the one responsible for the evil ponies of doom. Suddenly the black horses began to gallop away, disappearing along with the faeries in their bellies.

Jack came flying from out of nowhere, swinging his staff at Pitch. Pitch was hit once but managed to dodge a second time and melted into the floor the third time. He reappeared behind Jack and was about to make a move when Bunny threw his boomerang. It missed but swung back and Pitch was forced to retreat. Bunny caught his boomerang and hopped out of the sleigh to join Jack in the fight. Sandy flew after him. Santa jumped out of the sleigh as well, carrying with him two swords Riley had never seen before. He truly was a badass.

"Stay in sleigh," he ordered before running off to join the battle.

Riley didn't argue. She really didn't want to. Falling out of the sleigh had proven she was of no use in this fight. She could protect herself at least and with that thought, Riley emptied her bag onto the floor of the sleigh. Quickly, she opened her lighter and duct taped it to a can of aerosol, improvised flame thrower. Technically she wasn't allowed to make one after the last incident, but she figured this was an exception. Also, she discovered where Santa hid the lighters last week. Whatever may come, Riley was ready.


	6. Evil Ponies of Doom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Guardians face off against Pitch Black while Riley attempts to be useful. Attempts being the key word.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyway two warnings before we go on.
> 
> 1) Fluffy Bunny game is a choking hazard. Don't stuff your mouth full of marshmallows. Just don't. I like you breathing.
> 
> 2) Do NOT build a flamethrower. It's just a bad idea all around and you know it and I know it and the fire department knows it.
> 
> Moving on to the story

Chapter 6: Evil Ponies of Doom

Holding her improvised weapon ready, Riley peered over the sleigh. You would think that the guardians would have the advantage due to numbers, but Pitch was dancing around them. The guardians' attacks also kept interfering with each other; obviously they were all used to fighting alone. There was sand and ice and egg bombs flying through the air. Santa's swords sliced and diced whatever came near him. Riley couldn't hear the taunting that was going on but she could guess that's what was happening based on the pauses in the fight. Besides Jack and Bunny weren't the type to go down silently. Eventually, the guardians seemed to get their act together and they actually had Pitch on the run. Pitch summoned his evil ponies of doom again and sent them after the guardians. Jack managed to dance around them and swung his staff at Pitch. At the last moment, Pitch melted into the ground again.

"How nice," a chilling voice said from behind her, "The guardians brought their own cheerleader."

Riley spun around and held up her flamethrower. She pressed down on the cap and flicked the lighter on. Immediately, a rush of flames shot forward. Pitch seemed stunned but managed to dodge only getting a few strands of hair burned. Oh Pitch looked angry. Probably not good. Riley aimed and fired the flamethrower again. Hey it was too late to take back her actions so she might as well continue. Pitch melted into the ground again and before Riley could turn her flamethrower was knocked out of her hands and out of the sleigh.

"That's enough of that," Pitch growled.

He looked a little funny with his slightly burnt hair and clothes, but his menacing attitude was enough to make him frightening. Briefly, Riley wondered if she should just abandon sleigh when Pitch summoned another horse and had it charge forward. Riley cringed and braced herself for impact. The horse went right through her. 

There was an awkward moment where both Pitch and Riley stared at each other in absolute confusion over what happened. Pitch recovered quick enough to send the horse charging at her again. Once again it slid right through Riley. Immediately Riley's fear disappeared and a big grin made its way across her face.

"What's that Pitch?" she laughed, "Having performance problems?"

Pitch growled at her but from his peripheral vision he saw the other guardians rushing forward.

"This isn't the end," he threatened before melting into the ground.

"Yeah you better run!" Riley yelled, although by that point Pitch had disappeared.

"Little Red," Bunny hopped over, "Did he hurt you?"

"No, I sent him running. He knew I was too much to handle," Riley joked.

"Obviously you're terrifying," Jack rolled his eyes.

"I'm ferocious," Riley responded.

"He did not try to harm you?" Santa asked.

"He did try," Riley admitted, "But his evil ponies of doom have no effect on me."

"Evil ponies of doom?" Jack mocked.

"Hey I missed the explanation," Riley defended herself, "What else am I supposed to call them?"  
   
"They're nightmares," Santa explained, "Pitch has corrupted Sandy's sand and turned it into a weapon against us."

"That would explain why it would have no effect on Shelia over here," Bunny grunted, "Sandy's sand is useless against her."

"His nightmares are just one of his powers," Santa warned, "It does not mean Riley is impervious to harm."

"They're all gone!" Tooth cried flying over, "Every tooth. Every fairy. They're all gone. Even now children are waking up all over the world and not finding anything under their pillows."

 Tooth looked like she was about to cry. It was odd to see someone so chipper and happy all the time look so sad and frightened. It was like all the life in Tooth was drained away. There was movement from Jack's hoodie and a small fairy flew out and over to Tooth.

"Baby Tooth," Tooth smiled, "You're all right."

Baby Tooth made a small noise of agreement as she hugged her "mother."

"Jack," Tooth looked at him in awe, "You saved her."

Jack looked embarrassed and began studying his toes intently. Baby Tooth flew over and hugged Jack's cheek.

"Why did he take the teeth?" Jack asked.

"They're more than just teeth, Jack," Tooth explained, "Every tooth has a memory and when my faeries collect the teeth they also collect the memories. The teeth store the happiest memories of childhood. Then whenever a person needs a reminder of their childhood we can release the memory and bring them back a bit of their childhood. That's why Pitch took them. That's why the teeth are so important."

"You have everyone's childhood memories?" Jack questioned.

"Everyone except Riley's," Tooth admitted.

Everyone turned to look at Riley.

"I'm special," she stated.

"Clearly," Bunny deadpanned.

Riley held up her flamethrower in a threatening manner, "Don't make me use this."

"I even have our memories from before," Tooth explained.

"Before?" Jack looked shocked.

"Of course," Tooth went on, "We were all someone before we were chosen for this job. Don't you remember?"

The other guardians looked on at Jack in surprise. Apparently they all thought Jack knew about his previous life. To be honest, Riley was a little shocked too. She wasn't shocked at Jack not knowing, because she didn't know any of this herself, she was shocked at the mere idea of the guardians being normal people before being magical holiday creatures. It certainly raised a lot of interesting questions. Had Bunny always been a bunny? Or was he a person that turned into a bunny?

"No, I didn't" Jack whispered stunned, "I always thought I had just been this. Do you mean I can still remember?"

"Oh Jack," Tooth looked at Jack in pity, "If I had known I would have given you your memories a long time ago."

"No use now," Bunny pointed out, "Pitch has all the teeth now."

Tooth nodded in agreement, "Even now I can feel my strength draining as more and more children wake up and realize the Tooth Fairy never came."

"That's it!" Santa shouted, "We'll help you Tooth Fairy. If we take the teeth than the children will still believe."

"Are you nuts?" Bunny asked, "How can you expect the five of us to do the work of thousands of faeries working 24/7?"

"I can help," Riley piped up.

"Each one of us is hundreds of times more powerful than the little faeries," Santa announced, "Working together the five of us should be able finish job in no time!"

"Still here," Riley said.

"That's right!" Tooth said excitingly, "Oh and if the children still believe in us, Pitch will have no power. Oh Jack we might be able to get your teeth back after all!"

"My memories," Jack whispered.

"Then it's settled the four of us will help Tooth Fairy," Santa said.

"Okay now you're just being mean," Riley pouted.

"You can help too Riley," Santa told her.

"Really?"

"Yes, you can watch sleigh."

"Gee, thanks Santa," Riley replied sarcastically.

"You're welcome," Santa ruffled her orange hair, "Now everyone to the sleigh!"

Bunny looked like he was about to be sick.

They were flying through the air in Santa's sleigh. Bunny was pretending to be on the ground.

"Riley, your hands," Tooth pointed out.

Riley had been having an animated conversation with her in order to cheer her up and had been waving her hands around dramatically when Tooth noticed them. Tooth took Riley's hands in hers and examined the pink skin carefully.

"Yeah, I burnt them using the flamethrower," Riley explained, "I started the aerosol and opened the lighter at the same time. I didn't move my hands fast enough. It's okay though. It doesn't really hurt."

"You should have said something," Tooth reprimanded her.

"You shouldn't have a flamethrower," Santa noted, "I thought I hid the lighters."

"You did, I found them," Riley admitted, "You're not very good at hiding things Santa. Leave that to bunny."

"Do we have a first aid kit?" Tooth asked, "We should probably ice your hands and wrap them."

"Really it's fine," Riley insisted.

"Let me help," Jack interrupted, grabbing Riley's hands with his.

His cold hands actually felt good against Riley's warm ones. She didn't want to admit the burns were bothering her a little. Riley blushed.

"Seems your face is a bit warm too," Jack smirked, "Need me to help you cool down?"

Jack leaned his forehead so it was pressing against her. Riley felt her face heat up more and she was at a loss for words. Her heart was beating frantically and for a moment Riley thought she forgot how to breathe. Jack just smirked at her bewildered expression. The damn bastard knew exactly what he was doing!

"Oh!" Tooth smiled knowingly, "That's so cute!"

"I thought you were the Tooth Fairy, not Cupid," Bunny grumbled his face still buried in his hands.

"I can support love too," Tooth protested.

At that remark Riley decided this was a little too close for comfort especially with other people watching. Besides the fangirl in her had passed out from disbelief and she was losing brain cells rapidly.

"Well thanks, feel much better," Riley rushed, "Gonna go make friends with the reindeer."

Riley extracted herself from Jack's hands and rushed to the front of the sleigh. Okay so at most she had put three feet of distance between them and she could practically feel Jack smirking at her. But every centimeter apart meant one more brain cell for Riley.

"So Santa," she started up a conversation in order to distract her, "How's life?"

Santa gave her a look.

"Right," Riley replied sheepishly, "How about you explain the snow globes to me? Physics and all that fun jazz."

"Not physics," Santa insisted, "Magic. The snow globes are created from the ice at the North Pole, which holds magical properties. I shape them and leave them in the workshop a bit to absorb Christmas magic."

"Does that mean only magical beings can use them?" Riley asked.

"No," Santa explained, "Snow globes hold magic in them. No extra magic required. They work based on thought. If you think of place and smash globe, then portal opens to place."

"How long does the portal stay open?"

"Not long," Santa admitted, "Beings with magic powers can keep it open longer before entering and the portal lasts longer if something smaller goes through. Sleigh with toys, reindeer, and guests usually causes portal to close immediately after."

"So mass is a factor?" Riley asked.

"Yes," Santa said, "And magical prowess. The more power you have, the more magic it takes to put you through. Portals also close up almost immediately if opened unintentionally. That's why yetis could not follow you through at North Pole."

"Oh, I hadn't thought of that. I have a question though. The portal I went through was opened accidently so I wasn't thinking of a place. So why did it send me to Jack?"

"I don't know. You didn't know Jack. My guess is because you lack magic the portal transported you to nearest magical source it could find. That or yetis were thinking of Jack."

"I'm not sure how I feel about that," Jack interrupted from the back of the sleigh.

"First the Tooth faeries and now the yetis," Riley joked, "Apparently no one is resistant to the Jack Frost charm."

Jack smirked at that one.

"Really now," he whispered, "I can think of one person who is putting up a fight."

Riley blushed again but managed to retain enough brain cells to come up with a response.

"We can't all swoon at the sight of your pearly whites. Think of how impractical that would be."

"No flirting on sleigh!" Santa ordered, "Or I put you both on naughty list."

"I'm already on the naughty list," Jack said smugly.

Bad thoughts. Bad thoughts. Riley reminded herself. He most certainly didn't mean it that way. He was just stating a fact. Tumblr was a bad influence on her brain. Jack winked at Riley. Oh he totally did mean it that way. Insert inner fangirl screaming and fainting here. Riley blushed again. This boy would be the end of her.

"They're going to make such a cute couple," Tooth stage-whispered to Sandy.

The mismatched gang was in Hong Kong. Riley watched as Jack, Bunny, and Santa competed over who could gather the most teeth. Sandy was actually kicking all their asses with his silent style, but that didn't stop the others from trying their best. It was kind of amusing to watch them trip each other, freeze one another to the floor, and play other such tricks. Tooth was the only one who was actually taking her job seriously. Riley wished she could join them.

"Watch the sleigh Riley," she pretended to speak in Santa's Russian accent, "We're going to have fun and games all around the world and leave you with the reindeer."

One of the reindeer huffed at that.

"Sorry Dancer," Riley apologized.

She took her phone out of her pocket.

"At least I have you Useless," Riley said, "Any suggestions?"

"You could play a game," it suggested.

"Game?" Riley asked.

"I suggest Portal," Useless stated.

"Portal? I don't think that's a game app," Riley said, looking up to see what the guardians were doing.

Santa had hopped down another chimney and popped up somewhere else. She had to ask him how he did that. Were all chimneys connected by magic portals? Perhaps he used his snow globes. He seemed to have an endless supply of those…

"Oh portals!' Riley gasped.

Quickly she got off her seat on Santa's sleigh and opened the bench. Santa had once explained to her that he could carry all the toys due to the compartment in his sleigh. It was kind of like Hermione's bag from the 7th book or the TARDIS. It was bigger on the inside. Inside the sleigh were hundreds and hundreds of snow globes. Riley stuffed as many as she could into her bag. Travel magic was the only magic that actually affected her for some reason, and Santa had said people without magic could use the globes.

"Dancer watch the sleigh," she ordered the reindeer.

Riley grabbed one of the snow globes in her hand and glanced around. There in the distance she could see Bunny trying to steal a tooth through the window. Riley smashed the globe and jumped through. Her momentum stayed with her so Riley came shooting out the other side. She managed to catch herself, waved to a stunned Bunny, took the tooth, and jumped back through the portal. This time she landed back where she started. Glancing around Riley spotted Jack in another room. Riley was about to take out another globe when she noticed the portal from before was still open. Since she had no magic of her own she guessed the portal could stay open a lot longer than if Santa or Bunny tried to use it.

"I wonder," Riley placed her hand in front of the portal and pictured the room Jack was in.

Carefully this time she stepped through. She appeared behind Jack. He didn't seem to notice her entrance as he was focused on sneaking quietly over to the bed. Riley had an idea. An idea Tumblr would be proud of. An idea that going to embarrass the crap out of her but the look on Jack's face would be worth it. Quietly as possible, Riley crept up behind Jack. Then, before she lost her nerve, she pinched his butt. Jack whipped around. His face a mixture of shock and confusion. Riley took that moment to grab the tooth and hurry back through the portal. When Riley reappeared next to the sleigh she burst out laughing.

"I can't believe I did that," she managed between fits of giggles.

She allowed herself a few moments to stop laughing and allow her blush to die down. When Jack didn't appear behind her she guessed the portal had closed on the other side.

"So I can use the same globe over and over again for a while," Riley summarized, "But the portal must only stay open on the side I'm on and I can redirect it by thinking of other places before jumping through."

Riley thought up another idea. Perhaps she could be transported to a location based on another person's location? Santa did say it must have transported her to Jack based on his magical source. Maybe she could select which magical source it locked on to and appear near that person?

"Only one way to find out," Riley walked through again.

Santa was trying to carefully sneak his hand under a kid's pillow when Riley appeared out of the wall behind him.

"Hiya Santa," Riley greeted cheerfully.

Santa jumped and spun around.

"How did you?" Santa asked.

"Magic portal," Riley answered, "You have no idea what these things can do. Watch."

Riley jumped back through. The portal reappeared on the other side of the bed and Riley jumped out, grabbed the tooth, and waved good-bye to Santa before jumping through again.

And with that the game was on. Riley took great pleasure in reappearing where Bunny or Santa was and stealing the tooth from under the noses. Soon they began to expect her and began to lay traps. Sandy, who had been using his sand to beat everyone before, was thrown off his game because Riley wasn't affected by his sand traps. The next time she appeared Sandy simply tripped her with his feet though. Sandy was a secret evil genius. Riley had been avoiding Jack as much as she possibly could. While the results were definitely worth it, she was embarrassed by her actions. She "portaled" (Was that a word? Well it was now.) into a kid's room and snuck forward to take a tooth.

"Caught you," a voice whispered near her ear.

Her butt was pinched and Riley was in such a shock that Jack managed to steal the tooth from under her nose and jump back out the window before she recovered. Her face heated up and Riley gaped at the window. Did he just? After she just? Did that mean? Oh it most certainly did.

"The game is on Mister Frost," Riley announced.

She opened another portal and jumped through.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Omake:
> 
> It was about two months into Riley's stay at the North Pole when the flamethrower incident happened. Riley had a legitmate reason for her flamethrowing need. There was a bad patch of ice that was interfering with her sledding route. Why Riley couldn't get salt like normal people, the guardians have yet to figure out.
> 
> The guardians were holding their monthly meeting when Riley walked past carrying cans of hairspray. Nothing too odd. Lots of dolls needed hairspray. Riley walked by again carrying lots of duct tape. Nothing too odd. Something was always breaking in the workshop. Then Riley walked by with arms full of lighters and matches. The guardians glanced at each other. Should they do something? Should they interfere? Riley was a grown adult. She couldn't be doing anything too dangerous or stupid. Eventually, they forgot about it and continued with their meeting. Suddenly there was a large explosion. The sprinklers began to go off and there was lots of screaming from the workshop. Several yetis ran past with buckets of water and fire extinguishers. Several elves and yetis were rolling around in the snow outside, trying to smother the flames. Riley ran past before skidding to a stop.
> 
> "I left the elves alone with my flamethrower," she offered as explanation, "It blew up the mountain of robot toys one of the yetis had just finished repainting. He threw himselves into the flames to try to save some of them. We pulled him out. He's fine mostly. His hands are a bit burnt. Do we have a first aid kit?"
> 
> After the fire had been extinguished, Riley was told she was never allowed to make a flamethrower again. Also the yeti who injured his hands spent several wonderful weeks on sick leave where he rediscovered his passion for Christmas and love and making children happy which he had forgotten about while he had been repainting robots. The moment he came back the same yeti was assigned to paint all the new robots. Later he was asked to repaint them a different color.


	7. The Game is On

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Riley uses the magic of snow globes to be a substitute tooth fairy.

Chapter 7: The Game is On

What followed next could only be described as the weirdest flirting ritual ever. Riley and Jack stole tooth after tooth, competing with the others but also with each other. The game seemed to be who could sneak up on the other and make them drop the current tooth. Riley slapped Jack's ass and grabbed the tooth he dropped. Jack pulled Riley out of the way using the hook of his staff and then proceeded to pull her close only to steal the tooth from her stunned hands. Riley told a dirty joke and proceeded to open a portal beneath Jack's feet. Jack put a snowball down Riley's back. Riley asked Jack if his staff was compensating for something. Jack froze Riley's shoes only to feel her up and then steal the Tooth. Riley licked Jack's neck. Jack bit Riley's ear. Riley kissed Jack on the cheek. Jack kissed Riley on the forehead.

Of course these moments only occurred when the other guardians weren't around. When Santa or Sandy or Bunny was around they restrained themselves to sly winks, smirks, and flirts. Taunts flew back and forth between the two.

"Keep up cute ass," Riley yelled before leaping in another portal.

"Too slow, Snowball!" she said after jumping over a frozen Bunny and into another portal.

"See ya sweet cheeks!" Riley winked, holding her up prize.

"Head over heels for me?" Jack mocked as Riley lay on the floor, her feet frozen to the ground.

"I am on the naughty list after all," Jack winked at Riley who was trying to get snow out of her pants.

"Language, fiery Riley," Jack pressed a finger to her lips to stop her stream of cursing before flying out the window.

Eventually they had gathered up all the teeth in Hong Kong. Every person was holding up their bags full of teeth, trying to see who had the most.

"Good job," Tooth cheered, "You did remember to leave a quarter right?"

All the guardians and Riley glanced at each other.

"Well, shit." Riley voiced.

The next thing Riley knew they were all standing in line for a change machine. It would have been exceptionally funny to see the most powerful magical guardians of the world waiting to get quarters if she hadn't been in line too. After the third time the machine refused to accept Sandy's dollar the others exchanged knowing looks. Those kids weren't getting quarters under their pillows. Instead there was another race to replace the teeth with whatever was on hand. Santa left presents, sleds, and in one incident a Christmas tree. Bunny left eggs. Sandy actually left quarters and Jack left super frozen snowballs that wouldn't melt for hours. Riley walked into a 24/7 store to buy herself dinner, use the bathroom, and buy a bunch of candy. She was only human after all. Then she proceeded to use the portals to leave candy under every kid's pillow she could. Tooth complained about the cavities but let Riley be.

The five guardians and Riley continued this pattern throughout the night, throughout the entire world. Luckily enough working with the guardians was tons of fun or else Riley would have been pulling her hair out a long time ago. However, while the guardians could eat and sleep, they didn't need to as much as Riley. Somewhere over eastern Europe, Riley fell asleep in the sleigh. She woke up several hours later, holding a snow globe in her hand, as the sleigh made its final stop somewhere in America.

"No fair," Riley protested as the others prepared to leave the sleigh, "I missed several hours of teeth gathering."

"You snooze you lose," Jack grinned.

"Tell you what," Santa said, "Last tooth will be worth at least 500 teeth, okay?"

"You're on North," Bunny said.

The others nodded in agreement and quickly split up. Riley recognized this place as the town she had met Jack in earlier. Clearly, if she was going to win this game she was going to have to resort to sabotage. Riley used the portals to pick magic source after magic source and portal the unwary Santa, Bunny, and Sandy to random locations she had seen throughout the night. Santa had his own snow globes so he was able to come back rather quickly. Bunny had his tunnels but it did take him a while. Sandy well Riley wasn't sure how he got back but she saw him in her mad dash for the last ten houses. Riley left Tooth alone for the most part. As for Jack, well Riley waited till the right moment to strike.

She spotted Jack several houses away through a window and put her plan into action. Riley opened a portal, took a few steps back, and leapt through. She came flying out the other side and tackled Jack to the ground. Jack made a sound of surprise but Riley quickly covered his mouth with her hands so the kid wouldn't wake up.

"Hiya cute ass," She said, "Sorry about this."

Riley reached into the hoodie of Jack's pocket and pulled out his bag of teeth. Jack quickly flipped them over so Riley was on the bottom.

"Quick, but not quick enough," Jack said leaning way too close to Riley's face, "Trying to steal my teeth. You're a naughty girl aren't you? Santa's going to give you coal for Christmas."

Riley's face could possibly not get any redder. Her heart was beating loudly. Her Tumblr brain had exploded. Her inner fangirl had died and gone to heaven. She was speechless. Jack leaned forward and bit her lip before jumping away and out the window. It took Riley a few minutes to recover and when she did she realized something.

"Damn it! He stole my teeth!" she shouted.

The little girl stirred in her sleep and Riley quickly rolled through her portal. Riley reappeared at the last house to find Santa, Bunny, Jack, Tooth, and Sandy all in one room. The boys were arguing over who had the most teeth. Santa had the biggest bag until Jack pulled out Riley's bag as well.

"I'm going to melt all your snow with my flamethrower," Riley threatened.

"He stole your bag, Little Red?" Bunny asked.

"He did! He's a big meanie!"

"You curse like a sailor, and you resort to big meanie?" Jack raised an eyebrow.

"Shut it smart ass!" Riley yelled.

A small noise came from the bed. The guardians and Riley whipped their heads to see the little boy stirring. He saw everyone at the end of the bed. He froze.

"Sandy, knock him out," Santa ordered.

Sandy made a fist and punched it into his other hand.

"No with your sand!" Santa whispered.

It was too late. The boy recovered from his shock and immediately jumped up on his bed.

"Santa! The Tooth Fairy! Sandman! Easter Bunny!" he exclaimed, "I knew it! I knew you guys were real!"

Everyone glanced over at Jack. Jack tried to keep his smile, but it was obvious he was disappointed that the little boy couldn't see him.

"You're a lot taller then I imagined," the little boy told Bunny.

"What are you implying mate?"

"You have such pretty wings," the little boy told Tooth.

"Thank you," Tooth curtsied, "You have such pretty teeth."

"Santa! You're so tall!" the boy exclaimed.

Santa started laughing at that one.

"Hello Mr. Sandman," the boy greeted.

Sandy formed a top hat with his sand and then bowed with it.

"And who are you?" the little boy asked Riley.

The other guardians stared at Riley. She had sort of forgotten about the fact that she could be seen. She was so used to hanging out with people who were "invisible" most of the time, she had just assumed she was invisible too.

"Well," Riley began looking to the others for help.

They had none.

"I'm a believer," Riley improvised, "If you believe in all magical spirits and creatures then you get to help them. My job is to go around and help other people believe. Right now though I'm helping the guardians out."

"Oh that's so cool!" the boy exclaimed, "Can I be a believer too?"

Riley looked over at Jack.

"The Man in the Moon has to select you," Riley leaned close, "But I'll tell you a secret. If you believe in everyone, and I do mean everyone, then you'll probably get chosen. Remember seeing isn't always believing."

A little frown appeared above the boy's head.

"Everyone?" he asked.

"Everyone," Riley answered.

Santa made a motion to Sandy to knock the boy out. Sandy threw some sand but the boy moved his head at the last minute to pick up an Easter egg Bunny had dropped. Bunny was hit instead and he fell over unconscious.

"Watch it!" Santa said as Sandy threw the sand again.

This time the boy purposefully ducked, the sand bounced off the lamp and hit Tooth.

"That's so cool!" the boy began bouncing around, "How did you do that? Can you show me? Can I do it?"

Santa reached out to hold the boy still, but he was hit. Santa hit the bed, causing the boy to fly up. Sandy caught him and finally managed to hit him with some sand.

"Well that was interesting," Riley sighed, "What do we do now?"

Sandy and Jack glanced at each other before shrugging their shoulders.

"We can't just leave them!" Riley protested.

"Oh come on, it's funny," Jack pointed at the unconscious guardians of the world. Santa snored in his sleep.

It was all fun and games until an evil pony of doom flew past the window. Jack and Sandy exchanged looks. Jack immediately jumped into action and flew after the pony. Sandy dumped the kid into Riley's arms and followed Jack out the window.

"What am I supposed to do with him?" Riley asked holding up the boy.


	8. In Which Nobody Listens

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Riley is left to clean up the Guardians' mess and does a poor job at it.

Chapter 8: In Which Nobody Listens

Riley decided the best plan of action would be to put the boy down and then wake the other guardians. She was struggling to move Santa a bit so she could slide the boy into his bed.

"Bunny!" she heard a small voice squeal.

Riley almost dropped the kid in shock. Luckily, she managed to catch him. She peered over the unconscious body of Santa to see a little girl poking Bunny. Oh, must have been the little sister. Well she would put the boy to bed, put the girl to bed, and then wake the guardians before Pitch ruined another guardian's magic. No problem. No pressure. She could handle this. She pushed Santa enough to fit the boy into his bed. Her shoving caused a snow globe to fall out of his pocket. It rolled off the bed and onto the floor.

"Oh!" the little girl squealed.

"Shit!" Riley cursed racing around the bed, but she was too late. The little girl was gone and so was the snow globe. Not good. Not good at all.

"The fuck she go?!" Riley pulled at her hair.

She had no idea where the portal could have taken her. She didn't know how to trace portal magic, only how to use portals for her own advantage.

"Think, think, think," Riley massaged her head, "Come on. Brain blast. Epiphany. Voice of God. I'll even take SIRI at this point."

The phone remained silent. Riley glanced at Santa.

"Got it!" Riley snapped her fingers.

She would wake Santa, portal him to the pole, have him locate the little girl, and then they would go get the girl and bring her back. Plan. An evil pony of doom flew past the window. Right. Evil guy. Okay they would defeat Pitch then get the girl. What could possibly happen to her in such a short time? Riley started imagining horrible scenarios.

"I don't know what to do?!" Riley wailed.

Damn it. Okay she would just wake the guardians and ask them. Surely they knew how to handle this.

"Bunny, Bunny," Riley shook Bunny.

Bunny mumbled something about carrots and mate before turning over. Riley was starting to get angry. She was under a lot of stress. There was a girl missing, an evil guy who creeped her the hell out, everyone who could help her was unconscious, she wasn't entirely sure what was happening between her and Jack, and she still hadn't figured out what the hell happened to her home. Where most would feel pity and fear for themselves, Riley just got angry.

"DAMN IT YOU EASTER KANGAROO!" she yelled at him.

Bunny shot up.

"I am not a kangaroo!" he replied automatically.

"Oh thank the gods you're awake!" Riley cried, "Look Pitch is here and there is this girl,"

"Pitch is here?" Bunny asked looking shocked.

"Yes, but also this little girl," Riley began.

"Wake the others Shelia," Bunny got up, "I'm going after him"

"Wait wait wait!" Riley tried to stop Bunny but he hopped out the window, "God fucking damn it!"

Riley turned to Tooth.

"Wake up, wake up, wake up," Riley shook Tooth too no avail.

Tooth gave a tiny snore and turned over.

"I hate you universe!" Riley seethed before turning to Tooth, "Tooth look a pair of perfect molars!"

"Where?" Tooth shot up.

"Look Pitch is here and Jack and Bunny and Sandy are fighting him," Riley began explaining.

"Pitch? I'll go help. Wake North," Tooth flew out the window.

"No! Gah! DAMN IT PEOPLE LISTEN!" Riley turned to Santa.

Okay this time she had to get it right.

"Santa, Santa," Riley called, "Santa the elves are on fire!"

No response.

"Santa the yetis are having a meltdown!"

Nothing.

"Santa the reindeer need to be feed."

Nada.

"Santa Bunny said Easter is better than Christmas!"

Zilch.

"Huh, I thought that one would have worked."

An idea struck.

"Santa the elves are eating all the milk and cookies!"

"Get your hands off my cookies!" Santa bellowed finally waking up.

"Look a little girl is missing and Pitch is here and the others are fighting him and I need your help," Riley tried to explain.

"Pitch is here?" Santa asked.

Damn it. Riley shouldn't have said anything.

"You stay here," Santa got up and took out his swords, "I'll take care of Pitch."

And with that Santa got up and left.

"DAMN IT!" Riley kicked the bed, "Fuck! Motherfucking hurt!"

She glanced over at the little boy who was still sleeping. He couldn't sleep forever. Eventually, he would wake up and realize his sister was missing. He would be heartbroken. He would blame them. No one would love the guardians anymore. All magic would disappear. Okay well if the guardians couldn't do it, she would. The little girl had to have taken the portal accidently so she would have gone to a magic source. All the guardians were here so obviously she didn't go to them. She must have gone to a location. Hopefully there weren't too many magical places in the world. Riley looked out the window at that moment.

In the distance gold and black and blue exploded together. Evil ponies of doom roamed the streets. Santa and Bunny and Tooth tried to hold them off. She could see the nightmares growing stronger. Riley glanced at the little boy behind her. All the kids were suffering. She had to do something. She could rescue the girl by morning but what was the point if the guardians were defeated. She wasn't effected by Pitch's magic so she could help. She still had her flamethrower and some snow globes.

"Useless," she called her phone, "Write a message for me to give in a half hour."

"What do you want it to say?" Useless asked.

"A little girl took a portal accidently," Riley stated, "She's probably in a magic location. Find her and bring her back. Please."

"Is that all?" Useless asked.

"Yeah, end," Riley gulped, "Hopefully I'll be alive to deliver the message myself."

"Do not let fear rule conquer you, fear is only a nightmare in the day," Useless quoted, "From Le Homme dans la lune."

"You're a freaky phone, Useless," Riley told it, "But you give some good advice."

Riley took out a snow globe and smashed it into the floor.

"Allons-y!" she shouted jumping through.

Riley reappeared in one of the streets and quickly spun around. There was Pitch in the distance with Jack fighting him and Sandy lending a helping hand. Riley spotted something from the corner of her eye.

"Oh, I'll need this," she grabbed it and jumped back into the portal.

The portal opened behind Jack and Pitch.

"Hey creepy!" Riley shouted.

Pitch barely had time to turn around before Riley swung the shovel and smacked him in the face. Pitch stumbled back and Jack brought his cane down on Pitch's head.

"Good swing," he complimented.

"Thanks."

Pitch recovered quickly enough.

"You," he growled, "Have interfered enough for one lifetime. You worthless speck."

"Some people call me Riley," Riley was a lot more confident now that she had hit him with a shovel.

Pitch launched forward. Riley stumbled back. Jack jumped in front of her.

"Told you I'd protect you," Jack grinned.

Riley's heart thumped, but this time not in a flirting way. She knew Jack and her had been flirting. There was some sort of physical attraction. She believed he was a good guy, but this was. This was beyond being nice. He was risking his life for her. And this was so not the time to be thinking about this! Pitch released more nightmare horses. Jack tried to hold them off but there were too many.

"You're an idiot," she yelled at Jack, "They don't affect me."

"But I can," Pitch reappeared behind her and tried to grab her. Riley jumped back through her portal and landed several roofs away. Pitch followed her. It was like a terrifying game of tag. Riley would jump from one place to the next and Pitch would be there moments later. Riley was in such a hurry that she wasn't thinking straight. If she had she would have jumped over to another guardian or perhaps another state or country. But no, she was having a stupid moment and kept jumping several roofs away.

"No, holy fuck!" Riley cursed as she slipped on a patch of ice on landing.

Why did landings always get her? Seriously?! She thought she was getting better at this. She hit the ground and a shadow appeared above her.

"Well shit," Riley turned over to see Pitch standing over her.


	9. Tastes Like?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Riley's actions have consequences.

Chapter 9: Tastes Like

Riley supposed that if she was religious this probably would been a good time to pray to whatever deity she believed in. However she wasn't so she didn't. Instead, Riley cursed out every higher power she could think of. That's it Riley, she thought to herself, piss off every God before you die that will work out well for you. Oh how Riley wished she hadn't dropped her shovel several roofs ago.

Pitch reached down and plucked Riley from the ground. He held her up by her fabulous candy-canes-arranged-into-giant-heart sweater. Riley felt her heart pounding in her throat. She tried not to let it show though. Her phone had said not too. Damn it, she was taking directions from a phone!

"You have interfered with my plans for the last time," Pitch growled at her.

"I say it's more of a casual coincidence that works out poorly for you," Riley suggested.

"My nightmares may have no effect on you," Pitch explained, "But I can still harm you."

"Thanks for elaborating on that, wasn't too sure of that myself," Riley blathered on.

She really should learn to shut her mouth. Pitch walked over to the edge of the roof.

"Good-bye, Riley," Pitch sneered.

Yeah no, Riley wasn't to go like this. Killed by the boogeyman. What an awful thing to put on her gravestone. She was having none of that. If she was going to die she wanted something awesome on her grave, not "Was a huge idiot who tried to fight supernatural powered freaks." So when Pitch attempted to drop Riley off the roof and to her doom, Riley clung to him like a leech. She wrapped both her arms around his arm and refused to let go.

"Would you just die!" Pitch yelled at frustration.

"No!" Riley yelled back, "I don't wanna and you can't make me!"

Pitch attempted to pry Riley off his one arm with his other hand but Riley kicked his hand away. Her wild swinging was setting them both off balance and if she kept this up they were both going down.

"Pitch!" Jack called.

He and Sandy were standing at the other end of the roof. Sandy was holding his golden sand in the form of a whip and Jack held up his cane. They were clearly pissed off. Pitch was distracted for a moment and Riley took that opportunity to bite him in the hand. Pitch jerked suddenly, pulling Riley away from the roof edge. Quickly she let go and dropped to the floor.

"Oh! Ugh! Ew!" Riley whipped her tongue, "You taste awful! Oh god what are you made of, expired milk?!"

In case anyone was wondering, that was clearly the wrong thing to say to a pissed off villain while still standing near the roof's edge. Pitch shoved Riley. Maybe it wasn't the dignified evil look he was going for but it got the job done. Riley pitched backwards and off the roof.

Riley wished she could have screamed or grabbed the edge or even watched her life pass before her eyes. But the fall was only a couple of stories. Enough to kill her, but not long enough to do much else. Instead she found her thoughts straying towards physics.

She had always liked math and science. Sure it made her a bit weird and kids had teased her at first, but she loved it. Eventually she embraced her inner geek and let her weirdness shine, allowing her nerdiness to take all sorts of forms. There was always a special place in her heart for physics. When her parents had been divorcing, when they started dating new people, and when she gained half-siblings. Life was always unpredictable. Physics wasn't. There was always one right solution, no matter the circumstances. She may not know the next time her dad visited, but she knew what time an object would fall to Earth after being thrown into the air. When it became unacceptable to believe in magic, she could always believe in the truth of physics.

Before physics there had been magic. Mom and Dad might not love each other, but there was Santa and the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny. They loved her. They would always bring her presents on Christmas, money for teeth, and eggs for Easter; no matter which parent's house she was at. It was nice to always have that comfort. One day though that illusion was shattered. There was no Santa or Bunny or Tooth. No magic in the world. All you have is reality and reality sucks. On the outside Riley had accepted it and turned to physics, but secretly she had always wished that magic was real. For what was the point of this amazing universe if there was no magic in it?

"There is no Santa," her mom and step-dad had told her.

"Mom wasn't lying," her dad had said, "No Easter Bunny either."

But her mom and dad were wrong. Because there was. There was an Easter Bunny and a Tooth Fairy and a Sandman and Santa Claus. There was so many magical amazing creatures she had yet to meet. And of course there was Jack Frost. She was wrong too because physics wasn't an absolute truth. Because some things couldn't be and shouldn't be explained. Like what happened next.

There was a strong gust of wind attempting to push Riley upward and slow down her fall. A pair of arms snagged her from the air and the wind blew the two safely to the ground. There was a moment where the two of them stood there. Just Jack and Riley. Riley in disbelief that she was still alive and Jack recovering from the fear of almost letting his one believer die. Eventually Riley glanced up into Jack's eyes.

"Falling for me?" Jack asked.

Riley wrapped her arms around his neck and tried to hold back tears. Jack seemed shocked for a moment before returning the hug.

"You have awful puns," she choked up.

"I know," Jack hugged her tight.

The fighting on the roof was getting loud. The evil ponies of doom were still fighting the other guardians. A little girl was missing. The world needed to be saved. Riley knew she needed to save the mental breakdown of almost being killed till later, but she let herself relax in Jack's hug for a just a moment. It might have been a bit chilly but she really didn't care.

"Sandy!" Tooth screeched.

Jack and Riley glanced up to see Sandy surrounded by golden sand. However the sand was slowly turning black and creeping closer and closer to Sandy. It was obvious Sandy was putting up a fight but the black was creeping forward and Sandy was clearly losing control. Jack tensed suddenly before releasing Riley and flying towards Sandy. Riley saw the other guardians struggling to make their way over to Sandy. Quickly she rushed over to Bunny.

"Go!" she shouted, "I've got the ponies!"

Bunny didn't object as he bounced off. Riley took out her improvised flamethrower from before and proceeded to release the stream of flames on the pony. The nightmare burst into flames and whinnied and attempted to shake the flames off. It was a pretty gruesome sight as the pony caught on fire and then melted into black goo on the ground. Gruesome but needed to be done.

"NO!" Jack yelled.

Riley turned around to see the mountain of golden sand had been made completely black and the sand was shaped like it had just crushed something. Riley dropped her flamethrower in horror.

"Till next time guardians," Pitch yelled, disappearing into the ground.

Riley felt the tears streaming down her face before she realized what was happening. Someone touched her shoulder and Riley turned to see Bunny standing there. Riley flung her arms around Bunny and cried into his fur.

"It's okay shelia," Bunny comforted her, "It's okay."

But it wasn't. Because Sandy was dead.


	10. Magic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which everyone temporarily forgets the plot in order to grieve.

Chapter 10: Magic

Tooth, Bunny, and Santa were holding an official ceremony for Sandy. Riley would have never guessed that they would have a funeral process for guardians. She guessed because they were immortal nothing could hurt them, but that wasn't true. Other immortals could hurt them, kill them, make them disappear forever. Riley rested her head against the wall. She was currently sitting in the equivalent of a nurse's office for elves and yetis. Her hands had been rebandaged and she had been scanned for other signs of injuries. Other than some bad bruises she was fine. Sure she might have been a crying sniveling mess when Bunny first took her back to the pole, but she was out of tears now. One of the yetis had thrust hot chocolate and cookies at her and threw a blanket over her shoulders.

Riley stared into her mug. She wasn't really hungry or thirsty. In fact she wasn't much of anything. She had been upset before but now she just felt empty. It was hard to believe Sandy was gone. The silent man who had played Fluffy Bunny with her only yesterday, was gone. Should she be angry? Should she accept his death with grace? Should she be hysterically crying? She didn't know. She was just confused.

Riley knew Jack was off somewhere grieving on his own. She didn't have it in her to comfort him. She was just as upset and confused. Also despite how illogical it was, she couldn't help but blame herself for Sandy's death. If she hadn't let herself get captured, hadn't been pushed off the roof, then Jack could have been there with Sandy. It was no use thinking like that though. All the what ifs and buts and if onlys in the world, couldn't help Sandy now. Riley briefly pondered revenge on Pitch. She was the only one unaffected by his nightmares. She stood the best chance against his evil ponies of doom, but Pitch was the real issue. He greatly outpowered her. Maybe just maybe she should focus on outsmarting him. She had portals as well and she was able to track magical sources. Perhaps if planned this well, she could pull this off.

"Damn it," Riley cursed.

Revenge wasn't the answer. Well at least the current answer. Maybe down the road, but Pitch had dealt the guardians another blow. Without Sandy's dreams then all children would be susceptible to nightmares. Along with the fact that the guardians couldn't collect teeth forever, the children would stop believing in not time. And then what would happen? A world without dreams or hopes or wishes. A world without magic. A world full of nightmares. Riley couldn't let that happen. In truth she had no obligation to any of the guardians or protecting the world, but it felt right. How could she just stand aside? The short answer was she couldn't. She saw those children. She remembered her brothers being that young, when they had depended on her, looked up to her. Every time she saw the kids, she saw her brothers. Children were part of the magic of the universe and their happiness mattered. She just wanted them to have their moment, to believe in magic before "reality" took place. She would have done anything for her brothers, she would do anything to help save the children.

Perhaps that's what Sandy wanted. Revenge might make her feel better but Sandy had died for a cause. He had died for the children. He wouldn't want them to sit around mourning him while the children were in danger. He would have had gigantic firework drawings dancing over his head by now. All of which would be yelling at them to move it and stop Pitch. At least that's what Riley would have liked to believe. She had only known Sandy for four months but he was really the nicest guy she had ever met. He always brought a smile to her face and he never seemed annoyed or bothered by her jokes or attitude or cursing. She wasn't able to see the wonderful dreams he gave, but she benefitted from him as a person.

Sandy had truly been a wonderful guardian right up to his last breath. It was a shame he had to go the way he did but Sandy went doing what he believed in. He hadn't let fear stop him. Riley shouldn't either. With Sandy gone there was one less guardian to stop Pitch, but perhaps she could step up to the plate. She may not have magic powers but she had snow globes and a flamethrower and a desire to protect the children of the world in any way she could. She didn't think she could ever be as awesome as Sandy but at least she could protect kids in his memory.

"Hey, little Red," Bunny greeted, entering the room.

"Hi," Riley waved.

"How are you,?" Bunny began, "I mean…I know his loss hurts but,"

Bunny fumbled over his words for a minute in his Australian accent. He seemed to be getting frustrated with himself and his inability to say what he felt was needed.

"It's okay, Bunny," Riley got up and left her untouched chocolate on the table, "I know. I just needed time to think about it."

"Oh good," Bunny seemed a little lost at Riley's acceptance of Sandy's death.

Riley shrugged on her coat and gave Bunny a small smile before heading towards the door.

"Come on Fluffy Bunny," Riley said, "Let's go help the others."

"I am not fluffy!"

"Alright so what's the game plan?" Riley asked the room full of guardians.

Jack looked at Tooth who glanced at Santa who shrugged at Bunny.

"You guys are fabulous at this," Riley deadpanned, "Come on now. Someone has to have a plan."

"Easter is tomorrow," Bunny began, "If that goes well the children should have enough belief to allow us to fight Pitch and end this once and for all."

"But Bunny can you pull it off?" Tooth asked.

"Maybe not by myself," Bunny grinned, "But with a little help."

"Say no more!" Santa bellowed, "In this case, Easter is more important than Christmas."

"Can I get that in writing?" Bunny asked.

"Don't worry, Bunny," Riley piped up, "I'll be your legal witness."

"No time for chat," Santa interrupted, "Everyone to sleigh!"

"Oh no, mate," Bunny stopped Santa, "My holiday we do things my way."

"But sleigh," Santa looked crestfallen.

"This time we're taking the tunnels," Bunny tapped his foot against the ground.

A large hole opened up in the ground. The other guardians peered inside. The tunnel was made of rock and earth and seemed to go on forever. Jack whistled impressed. The sound echoed eerily throughout the tunnels.

"But we're on the second floor. How does that work? How do you even? Physics?" Riley was really quite confused.

"Don't think about it Sheila and just jump in," Bunny placed his hand on her back.

"I don't really have good experiences with your tunnels," Riley said nervously, "You know whole magic trip to North Pole and all that. Almost froze to death. All that jazz. Does someone else want to go first?"

"You'll be fine," Bunny pushed her closer.

"It's not going to take me to another dimension is it?" Riley asked, "Cause I like this one. Or the center of the Earth right? Because the only thing down there is melted core and that seems a bit boring."

"Are you chicken, Riley?" Jack smiled at her.

He was trying to taunt her into jumping but it wasn't going to work. Riley had no desire to travel by tunnel again especially after she had mastered snow globe portals.

"A big chicken. I'm the biggest fattest chicken ever. I'm so big I can't even fit in the hole so better not even try."

"You can either jump in or I'll push you in Shelia," Bunny threatened.

Riley glanced at the hole. She covered her eyes. She peered between her fingers. Nope still there. She damned the hole to hell. Still there. She prayed really hard. Still there.

"Fuck it! Can't I just portal?" Riley asked.

Jack grinned at her and jumped in. At the last second he used the hook on his cane to snag her around the waist and pull her in. Riley felt a sudden tug and she lost her balance and fell into the hole.

"I fucking hate you Jack Frost!" Riley screamed as she whipped through the tunnels.

Jack just threw back his head and laughed. The other guardians were right behind them. Santa seemed almost as frightened of the tunnels as Riley was and he was slipping and sliding around. Tooth seemed a bit off balance and unsure of where to put her wings. Bunny whooped loudly and slid through the tunnels like a boss. Jack was just as good as Bunny and he laughed and cheered as they rounded bends and went down sudden drops. Riley screamed bloody murder and cursed. The hook of the cane was still around her waist and at one point Jack used it to swing her forward in a spinning motion.

"It's like fucking teacups of doom!" Riley yelped.

A light appeared at the end of the tunnel and the next thing Riley knew she was flying through the air and landed ungracefully face-first on the ground.

"Ow" Riley mumbled into the ground.

Less than a second later, Jack came shooting out of the tunnel and landed on top of her. He was followed by Tooth and Santa. Bunny came shooting out and landed perfectly on his feet next to them.

"Motherfucking hurts!" Riley attempted to wriggle out from under the pile, "Oi! All of you get off of me!"

Santa and Tooth hastily rolled off her. Jack stood up as well. Riley breathed a sigh of relief at no longer being crushed.

"Up you go," Santa pulled Riley up by her jacket.

"Standing is hard," Riley complained but obliged.

She glanced around. It was actually quite nice here. They were in some sort of clearing surrounded by mountains with tunnels everywhere. It seemed to be eternally spring here. The sky was a clear blue, the grass was a beautiful green, flowers were blooming everywhere, and colorful springs ran through the clearing.

"Oh wow," she gasped.

"Impressive, I know," Bunny said puffing up his chest a bit and clearly more than a little proud of his home.

A noise came from one the tunnels. The guardians quickly shifted into fighting positions. Riley was shoved behind them. The noise was coming closer and closer. The guardians tensed. Suddenly they breathed a sigh of relief. Riley peaked out from behind Santa and saw the little girl from before.

"Oh there you are," Riley rushed forward and picked her up, "I was so worried about you. You guys were scared of a little girl, good job."

The little girl laughed as Riley tickled her stomach.

"You know her?" Santa asked.

"That's Jamie's sister," Jack explained, "But how did she get here?"

"When I had to put the little boy, Jamie, to bed one of Santa's globes fell out of his pocket. It accidently broke open and the little girl jumped through. I tried to tell you guys, but would you listen? Nooo!"

The little girl seemed fascinated by Riley's bright hair and was attempting to tie the flower she was holding in Riley's hair.

"What do we do with her?" Bunny asked.

"Are you serious?" Jack asked.

Riley almost interrupted saying that it was her gig to ask the guardians questions like that, but decided to let it go.

"I know!" Tooth flew forward, "All little girls love fairies."

The little girl was fascinated by Tooth's beautiful wings. Tooth held out her hand and in the palm was several teeth.

"Look, aren't they pretty?" Tooth asked, "All covered in blood and gums."

The little girl screamed and hid her face in Riley's hair.

"Really, Tooth?" Riley said, "You would have been better off mouth molesting her."

"Blood and gums?" Jack asked. "When's the last time any of you actually played with children?"

Bunny came forward to inspect the girl. He poked her and the girl giggled.

Santa laughed, "We're much too busy helping children to play with children."

Awkward pause.

"Oh," Santa said in realization.

"Look we don't have time for this," Bunny said.

He was interrupted by Jack blowing snow in his face. Bunny froze for a moment as his eyes lit up and a huge grin made its way across his face. Bunny then leaned forward and tickled the girl. She shrieked in happiness and launched herself at Bunny. Bunny caught her and placed her on the ground.

"Here I'll show you the magic of Easter," Bunny said to the girl and lead her around the clearing.

The other guardians followed. Bunny summoned his legions of eggs with feet forward. They began to dive into the colored pools and emerged dyed different colors. Santa summoned his yetis and Tooth, Santa, and the yetis set to work painting thousands of eggs. Bunny played with the little girl, taught her how to paint eggs, and supervised the whole operation. It was heartwarming but also a bit frightening because Riley had never seen Bunny having so much fun.

"Just what did you do to him?" Riley whispered to Jack.

"I just showed him how to have a little fun," Jack shrugged before blowing snow in her face.

"Cold! Cold!" Riley held her hands up to her face and tried to rub her face warm.

"Guess it doesn't work on you," Jack shrugged.

"No shit Sherlock, what led you to that conclusion my imperviousness to all other sorts of magic?" Riley may have been a bit bitter due to her cold nose.

"I'll have to teach you how to have fun the old-fashioned way," Jack grinned.

With that he grabbed her hand and flew her towards the others. What followed next was actually fun. Painting eggs might have seemed like a dull task but it was never with the guardians. It also helped that said eggs sprouted little legs to walk around with. The guardians took turns tossing eggs to each other to paint, Baby Tooth helped guide the little eggs into the colored springs, everyone took turns playing with the little girl, and then there were the hijinks and jokes and laughter. They took turns recounting stories to each other. Santa and Tooth explained the mischief their little helpers got in. Jack told the story of how he had met Jamie and then ran him over with a couch. Riley shared stories of her friends and family back home. Bunny claimed he didn't have any embarrassing stories so Santa took that as a challenge to tell as many embarrassing stories of Bunny as possible. Bunny took revenge by casually tripping Santa into a spring so Santa emerged pink. Riley helped the little girl chase around all the eggs, trying to herd them in one direction or another. Eventually the little girl, Sophie as she revealed herself to be, fell asleep. The eggs were all done and marching down their respective tunnels to places all over the world.

"We should really get her back," Bunny murmured holding Sophie in her arms.

"I'll take her," Jack offered.

"We need you Jack," Santa interjected, "Your powers work best against Pitch. Maybe it would be best if Riley went."

"I'll be back," Jack said, "I'm just dropping her off."

Bunny glanced at Sophie before handing her over to Jack. Baby Tooth flew in Jack's hoodie. She was rather attached to the boy. Not that Riley couldn't blame her.

"Work quickly mate," Bunny said.

"I'll be careful, Cotton Tail," Jack grinned.

"Riley you go too," Santa told her.

Riley nodded. She knew the guardians were trying to get rid of her in case something happened. She would have resented it but she knew Pitch outpowered her and she wanted to see Sophie home safely. Besides they would be back quickly enough. Riley grabbed a snow globe and launched it into the wall. The portal opened up and Jack and Riley stepped through. They landed in Jamie's bedroom, who was still asleep from Sandy's sand, and the two crept quietly down the hallway till they encountered what was obviously a little girl's room. They both went inside. Jack gently placed the sleeping girl on the bed. It was a peaceful moment until the little girl turned over and fell off the bed. Jack made a sheepish expression and went to pick her up until there was a noise in the hall. Quickly Jack threw a blanket over the little girl, grabbed Riley and flew the two of them out the window.

Once they were a good enough distance away, Jack landed. The two stared at each other for a moment before they burst out laughing.

"Oh god," Riley chuckled, "Your face."

"She caught me by surprise," Jack defended himself.

Eventually the two stopped giggling.

"You did really well with her, though," Riley complimented.

"Kids that young are the only ones I can interact with," Jack explained, "Everyone else gets a feeling I'm there. Little kids are the only ones I can actually touch."

"Must have been lonely," Riley realized for the first time just how lonely Jack must have been, "But don't worry about it. You've got us now. Me and Tooth and Santa. Even Bunny although he probably won't admit it."

Jack smiled at that.

"Besides," Riley rambled, "I have a feeling about that Jamie kid. I think he's sort of aware of you. He'll believe in you in no time."

"You think so?" Jack looked excited.

"Bet my cursing on it," Riley grinned, "And we all know how serious that is."

Jack chuckled.

"You know, you mentioned brothers earlier," Jack began.

"Yes. Yes I did. Good listening," Riley joked.

Jack sent her a look.

Riley laughed, "I know what you mean. You want to hear my tragic back story. Honestly you already know most of it. Divorced parents. Half brothers. Life was good. Magic tunnel. Here. It's not even tragic. I enjoy it here."

"Do you miss them?" Jack asked.

"Of course," Riley looked up at the sky, "But I can't go back. I can't even find home. What's the point of worrying myself sick when I can't do anything? Especially when there are yetis to torture and flamethrowers to build."

Riley glanced over at Jack. He was looking at her eyes full of sympathy but a small smile on his face. Riley felt her heart beat loudly. He was just so attractive. Steady inner fangirl. She could have a civil conversation.

"Besides I have you," Riley added, purposefully not looking at Jack.

"Me?" Jack asked.

"Of course," Riley explained, "You agreed to help me. You have a good sense of humor. You have fun with me, play pranks with me, agreed to hang out with me. You also protected me."

Riley glanced over at Jack. He was staring at her in shock.

"I refuse to get sappy," Riley checked herself, "But you did save my life. So I owe you one. Possibly a flamethrower. Would you like a flamethrower? You are the spirit of winter after all. I don't know how you feel about flamethrowers. I could get you something else. Maybe a jetpack?"

Riley was rambling now. Jack grabbed her hand. Riley stopped talking. She stared at him.

"You forgot one thing," Jack said.

The proper response would have been "Oh, yeah?" or "What?" but Riley was rendered mute. The way the moon was shining on Jack, the way Jack was staring at their hands. He was just so cute. The stupid sappy speech she gave. It was all getting to her. Her heart was pounding and her stomach was going a funny dance.

"I flirt with you," Jack smirked, looking up into Riley's eyes.

All the flirting came back to her. The taunts, the butt pinching, the licking, the ear biting. Riley flushed red. Jack pulled Riley closer. The two stared into each other's eyes. Oh god! It was awkward! What could she say? Her face was practically giving off heat. So Riley did the only thing she could think of. She kissed him.


	11. The Universe Owes Me One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pitch interrupts a perfectly good romantic moment.

Chapter 11: The Universe Owes Me One

Riley really hated romance clichés. Mostly because she thought they gave unrealistic expectations to teenage girls. Kissing was weird. The pressing together of two sets of lips might seem romantic but she hardly believed that those were lips original purpose. She didn't believe in love at first sight, or that everything ends with a happily ever after, or true love's kiss. She certainly didn't love Jack Frost but what she was was attracted to him and that's what made the kiss so fantastic.

Jack was taller than her so Riley had to lean up to kiss him. When she did there was. There was something. Sparks were a cliché, but a connection perhaps? His cold lips against her warm lips was kind of thrilling in a way. It wasn't a deep kiss, no tongue involved, merely two lips pressing together. But the moment Riley pulled back she had to stop herself from launching herself at Jack again. It had felt good. It was practically better than flirting. Well it would have been if Jack responded instead he stood there like a block of ice. The two stood there in a stunned silence, just looking at each other. The awkwardness began to build up.

"So," Riley began, "Is kissing something we do together now or should I start on the shame hole I'm going to bury myself in?

Jack blinked. Once. Twice. Three times. Maybe he had an eye problem. Riley was about to go find a shovel and start digging when Jack grinned. He grabbed her hand and pulled her closer.

"Caught me by surprise, fiery Riley," he chuckled and stroked the side of her face, "I thought I was supposed to kiss you."

Riley blushed bright red. Baby Tooth sat awkwardly in Jack's hoodie. She may have been too young to see this. Frankly though Riley didn't give a damn.

"I do what I want," Riley objected.

"Is that so?" Jack laughed lowly into her ear.

"Not that way!" Riley said frantically, "God golly man what goes on in your brain?"

"Well one person is occupying my thoughts right now," Jack flirted.

Alright Jack. Two can play at that game.

"Is that so, cute ass?" Riley poked him in the chest, "You know you never did answer my question."

"Is kissing something we do together?" Jack's face approached hers, "I think I have an answer for you."

Their lips were practically touching when Jack pulled back suddenly. Riley's inner fangirl cried out in pain.

"Did you hear that?" Jack asked twisting his head around.

"Uh, no," Riley said a bit stunned.

Baby Tooth shook her head no as well.

"There it is again," Jack was trying to locate the source of the noise.

Riley couldn't judge. One of her friends was a six foot tall Australian bunny with egg bombs. If that was possible then Jack could clearly be hearing something she couldn't. Still he was about to kiss her god damn it!

"They're calling for help," Jack said, "They're calling for me."

The look on his face said it all. Until two days no one other than other magical creatures could see him and Jack didn't exactly leave a great impression on them. Riley may have been his first believer but it had been stressed over and over again that her belief didn't empower the guardians; it only allowed her to interact with them. Jack had been alone for 300 years. He had watched and played with children but they never heard of him. For someone to be calling him, that was a miracle to Jack.

"Stay here," Jack tensed, "I'll be right back."

With that Jack flew off and Baby Tooth followed. While Riley may have understood why Jack flew off suddenly it didn't stop her from making the following scene. She waited till Jack was out of sight and began to rant.

"Holy mother of fuck! Really, universe? A cute boy is about to make out with me and you interrupt? You couldn't have waited till any other time? For shit. Really? Motherfucker." Riley cursed at the sky, "We were having a moment! A moment! He was so cute and friendly and nice and flirty. AND HE HAS SUCH A CUTE ASS! You so owe me universe!"

Riley's phone rang and when Riley retrieved it she noticed the picture of Jack's ass she had taken when she first met him was her screensaver.

"I don't remember putting that there," Riley mumbled at her phone, "But you have good taste universe."

There was a pause as Riley stared at the picture.

"You still owe me though," Riley told the sky.

"Riley," Useless called her, "I have received directions. Would you like to see them?"

"Are you shitting me?" Riley asked her phone. "Where the fuck are you getting these directions from? I didn't even ask you anything!"

"Would you like to see the directions?"

"Oh we're doing this again," Riley stared at her phone stubbornly, "But I ain't following you this time."

"Would you like to see the directions?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"Yep. I'm waiting for Jack and hopefully a make out session."

"I recommend you see the directions."

"Maybe when Jack comes back."

"Are you sure he will?"

"Why?" Riley stared at her phone creeped out.

"He may not. You should follow the directions." SIRI suggested.

"He will. He only went to follow an unknown voice to some random place…" Riley trailed off having a moment of realization, "Show me the directions."

"Gladly," SIRI pulled the directions up, Riley thought her phone sounded a bit smug but she dismissed it.

Riley began to follow the directions. She still had a few snow globes if she really needed to get back. There was no reason she shouldn't follow. The phone hadn't led her wrong yet. Besides the phone was kind of creepy with the way it responded to everything and insisted she follow these directions. She really didn't want to get on the wrong side of her phone. Riley had a feeling that it would use force if it needed to. She walked farther and farther away from Jamie's house and into the woods she had landed in after her first snow globe trip. Off the beaten path, the phone kept urging Riley forward and Riley made vague promises of painful revenge as she tripped over multiple roots and stubbed her toes on rocks. Eventually the trees cleared. She was standing at a lake. It was beautiful. There was delicate arrangements of frost everywhere and the snow was untouched. The lake was completely frozen over, covered in swirling patterns of ice and snow. The moon shined big and bright overhead.

"Go forward," SIRI instructed.

Riley stepped forward to the edge of the lake.

"Forward," SIRI urged her.

Riley glanced at the lake. It looked pretty solid, but looks could be deceiving. She really had no desire to drown today or freeze to death. Or become a human popsicle.

"Trust me," the phone said.

"Fucking fine," Riley cursed, "I'll just let my phone lead me to my death."

Carefully, Riley slid out onto the lake. She didn't have skates with her and her boots only did so much. Riley was forced to move forward by awkwardly sliding and propelling her arms around like a helicopter. Her balance was off and there were several times Riley almost fell but she somehow managed to make it to the middle of the frozen pond.

"What now?" she asked her phone.

No response. Oh great now it decided to be quiet. Out of all the times it chose to shut up, it chose now. Of course it did. Riley glanced around. What the hell was she supposed to do now? The moon shown down on her phone. With a moment of great clarity Riley looked up. Santa, Tooth, Jack, Bunny they had all mentioned a Man in the Moon. Riley really hadn't paid it any mind, to her it was just an old fairytale, a fable, a bedtime story. But they had said he was real, that the moon had chosen them. Riley thought back to every incident with her phone. Every direction it gave, every smart ass response, every phrase that prompted an idea. It had led her. It had led her to the guardians and then to Jack. It helped her discover portals. It had given her comfort in her time of fear. Santa had asked her. Asked if the Man in the Moon had chosen her. She had said no. But maybe. Maybe it did. Riley glanced up. She had a feeling this would change everything, but she had nothing to lose.

"What now?" Riley asked the moon.

There was a sudden cracking beneath her feet. Riley glanced down to see the ice breaking. Fear filled her but she couldn't move. She had nowhere to go. The ice broke apart and Riley tipped backwards into the freezing water. She prepared herself to go down.

But then she didn't. Instead Riley had the strangest sensation of the entire world tipping upside down and Riley fell down on top of the ice. The whole unbroken ice. Carefully, Riley got up and looked around. She was still on the lake but there was nothing else. Just the frozen pond. Everything beyond the pond was black inky darkness. Except right above her. Right above Riley was the moon and it was closer than ever before. It was so big and so bright Riley felt her eyes water, but she wasn't afraid. She felt safe.

"Hello?" she called at the moon.

"Hello," said a voice from behind her.

Riley whirled around so fast she slipped on the ice and fell on her ass. Looking up she saw a small squat man. He was as pale as the moon, wearing an old fashioned tux, and had one lone curly hair sticking out of the top of his head. Riley didn't know what she was expecting but honestly it wasn't this. This man looked cheerful and happy and small. She had kind of imagined the Man in the Moon being big and gruff like Santa.

"Man in the Moon?" Riley asked.

"You can call me MiM," the man offered Riley his hand.

Riley took and with surprising strength he pulled her up.

"So you've been my phone," Riley began, "This whole time?"

"Since the moment you got here," MiM smiled, "I couldn't talk to you directly like I can the others."

"Wait what do you mean? Why were you my phone? The others? Do you know how I got here? Well here as in North Pole four months ago and here as in here. What is here by the way?" Riley rambled.

MiM smiled and waited patiently as Riley finished her questions and trailed off quietly. Oh okay then. Right.

"I selected you," MiM began and Riley managed to keep her damn mouth shut so he could finish, "Just like I selected all the other guardians. You're different though. The guardians are people who died protecting children. They gave their lives so that children could live. I selected them to help guard the dreams of the children of the world and gave them new life."

Riley felt like someone punched her in the stomach. Tooth had mentioned previous lives but the way she phrased it made it sound okay. The way MiM said it made it clear that the guardians were basically murdered protecting children and even after all that they still continued to protect the children of the world. Sandy had even died a second time for them. Damn it she was going to cry at this rate. MiM pulled a tissue from his pocket and handed it to Riley. Riley used it to dab her eyes and pretended she wasn't about to burst into tears. She gestured for MiM to continue.

"You're different," MiM stated.

"I've heard that before," Riley stated.

"You see the other guardians were all people of this world. You are not."

"I'm sorry. Excuse me. Back up. You said what now?"

"You're from another dimension."

"Right. Okay. Thought you said that. Huh excuse me as I have a mental breakdown," Riley began to pull at her hair, "Other dimensions happen all the time. All the fucking time. It's normal. It's so completely normal. Who the shit am I kidding? This is not normal. This is the most un-normal thing ever. Evil ponies of doom made more fucking sense than this."

"But it does make sense," MiM was really way too cheerful, "Think about it from a physics perspective."

Riley paused in the act of pulling at her hair. Well there was physics for this. The possibility of parallel universes. Wormholes. Our world being a mere projection from another world according to string theory. Okay maybe not as strange. Just theories but not completely totally impossible. Besides she lived at the North Pole for four months. How odd was it that she was in an alternate universe? She could do this. She just needed to breathe.

"Okay," Riley released a big breath, "Continue."

"You're from an alternate universe," MiM explained, "You have to follow the basic rules of our world but not all of them. That's why our magic can't affect you. You're still considered part of the old universe. Just misplaced."

"But why bring me here? Also rabbit holes are stupid ways to transport people through dimensions. Just saying."

"A long time ago I lived with my family in peace. One day Pitch attacked my family. After the attack I woke up on the moon orbiting this Earth. I cannot leave my place but I vowed from that day onwards that I would not let Pitch hurt any more children. So I gathered my guardians as a way to protect the children of the Earth."

"But me," Riley pointed at herself, "Oh god! I didn't die, did I? I've been zombie for months and haven't even realized it."

"I cannot transport the dead between the universes. They have to choose to go willingly."

"But I didn't choose. I fell!" Riley objected, "Although happy about the not dying part."

"You chose to investigate that hole. That hole wouldn't have appeared to you if you weren't worthy of the task I have assigned you."

"What task? I spent the last four months sledding and baking cookies. I made a freaking flamethrower. I haven't done anything useful. Even in the past few days the most I've done is gather teeth and flirt with Jack and almost get killed. I didn't help at all."

"Sometimes it's not about what you have to offer power-wise, but heart-wise," MiM said softly, "The guardians have lived for hundreds of years. They're so busy trying to save the world and do their jobs that sometimes they forget to think for themselves. They needed someone. Someone who believed in them as people. Who saw them for what they really are and still loved them anyway. They needed someone to laugh with and remind them of the joy of living and caring and protecting the children. They needed you Riley. They need you now more than ever."

"So I'm their cheerleader?" Riley thought of what Pitch had said.

"No you're their believer," MiM said.

"Okay even if I did go for that," Riley changed topics, "Why not just tell me? The phone thing was creepy."

"Just like Pitch's nightmares don't work on you. I cannot converse with you directly. I figured your phone seemed a good option."

"We're conversing now," Riley pointed out.

"Yes, this is a dimensional plane that exists between the world of the guardians and the moon," MiM explained, "I brought you here on purpose. But I need special conditions to do this and it drains a lot of my energy."

"So let me sum this up," Riley began ticking off fingers, "I'm from another dimension, you brought me here to believe in the guardians, you've been my phone for four months, and we're currently in an alternate plane to have this discussion. Not the weirdest conversation I've ever had but it's up there."

"There's one more thing," MiM began, "The guardians are in trouble. Pitch attacked Bunnymund's eggs, Jack was trying to retrieve his memories from Pitch's hideout, when he managed to get to the guardians he was too late. Ashamed he let them down Jack has fled. The guardians are weak, Riley. Weaker than they have ever been before. More and more children lose faith as Easter dawns across the world."

"Fuck!" Riley cursed.

It seemed as good an option as any. Damn it, she should have just told Jack to go back to the others. He shouldn't have followed that voice. Not that he needed her to blame him, he was probably already doing that himself. His trust with the guardians was still forming and this must have hurt him bad. And Bunny. Poor Bunny. They had promised to help and now his holiday was in ruins. Not to mention all the teeth that weren't being collected. They must have felt so helpless. What do they do now?

"Riley, they need you now," MiM told her.

"As a believer? I don't think that will help much."

"No as a guardian," MiM said dead serious, "I need you to give up any chance you have of going home and become a guardian. I need you to help save the children of the world."


	12. A Decision is Made

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Man in the Moon presents Riley with a choice. Decision-making is not her forte.

Chapter 12: A Decision is Made

"Haha, that was a good one!" Riley burst out laughing, "For a second I thought you said the fate of the world depended on me. Whew. Can you imagine? That would be awful."

"I did."

"Oh." Riley snapped her mouth shut.

Insert awkward pause here.

Riley decided to take this time to think of her options. One the world was depending her. Two she could finally go home. Very different options and each with their pros and cons. If she picked being a guardian there would be no chance of ever going home. She would become part of this universe. That would mean she would be affected by things like Pitch's horses. A guardian meant she would never age. She would be eternally young. That was something to spring on a person. Riley wasn't sure how she felt about that. She was only 18. Actually there would probably never be an age where that question would be easy. What about her family back home? Her mom, dad, stepdad, and brothers. Yeah she may fight with them and her family may not be perfect but it was hers and she loved it. But could she really just leave the guardians behind right now? When they were at their lowest? Santa had raised her like a daughter. Tooth was some sort of annoying aunt with a fascination for teeth. Bunny was the grumpy uncle who was secretly a sweetheart. Sandy had been like the grandfather watching his children and grandchildren run around like maniacs while he had life under control. Riley wasn't going to think about her feelings for Jack. She was attracted to him and she certainly liked him as a friend, but her feelings weren't strong enough to pick Jack over her family.

In the end it came down to what Riley thought was more important. The dreams and hopes of all the children in the world or seeing her own family ever again. Riley felt the anger build up inside her. What a ridiculous question to ask someone! Especially on such short notice and with all this pressure! It was just rude damn it! She loved her family! She wanted to protect the children. Choosing one made her a bad person in the other. It was a no-win situation.

"Just what the fuck are you thinking asking me that?" Riley seethed, "Asking me to choose between two things like that. Well fuck you. I choose neither."

"Neither?" MiM seemed puzzled.

"Neither," Riley stressed, "I'm not becoming a guardian and I'm not going home either. You said I had a purpose. That I had a reason for being here. Well you're just a big hypocrite!"

"Hypocrite?" MiM repeated.

"You heard me motherfucker," Riley yelled, "If my special purpose is to believe in the guardians when no one else does, what's the point of turning me into a god damn guardian? You know what that says to me? It says you don't believe in the guardians you selected and you don't believe in my purpose. But I'll tell you one thing. Those guardians, Jack included, will never give up on the children. They will die before they allow Pitch to win. They could have no believers and they would still fight. Because they truly love those kids. You should be disgusted with yourself. They may be at their lowest point but they aren't out yet, not by a long shot. And maybe. Maybe all they really need is for someone like me to go in there and smack some common sense into their head. So fuck you. They need me and I don't have time for this."

MiM just smiled at her.

"I knew I chose you for a reason," he said, "Although you truly would have been a great guardian. That's not your purpose right now."

Riley blinked.

"Asshole. Were you just testing me?"

"You truly did have the options I gave you," MiM answered, "But I am proud of the path you chose."

"Are you still going to be my phone?" Riley asked suspiciously.

"It's the only way I can contact you," MiM said.

"Well hopefully you won't need to," Riley said, "Now can you send me back or what?"

"One more thing," MiM went on, "I don't have the power to send you back whenever you want. I don't know how long it will be till I can do this again? Do you understand, this may be your last chance for a while?"

"But I still have the option of going back eventually," Riley reasoned, "I'm in college. My parents weren't expecting to see me for a while and they have their own lives. I can return to them in time."

"You still maintain your status as a dimensional being," MiM explained, "The rules of this universe won't always apply to you. You can never have any magic of your own. You will never be able to power the guardians by your belief. Your body has also been frozen in time since you left. Do you realize what this means? If I cannot get you back for ten years in your dimension, you will return to your dimension exactly as old as you left it physically. Once back you should age again at a normal rate, but you the same age as you left."

"Now you tell me this!" Riley yanked at her hair.

No she had already made her decision. The guardians needed her now. The children needed her now. This wasn't a permanent decision, just a temporary one. She could decide later. Until then Riley would have to live with the side effects. Pitch couldn't be allowed to continue his actions. She remembered how terrified she felt when he had attempted to kill her. She couldn't imagine living with that fear all the time. No one should have to live like that.

"Send me back to the guardians," Riley urged, "We're wasting enough time as it is. We'll worry about the consequences when we get to them."

"You'll be going into the fight as just a normal human," MiM warned.

"Correction I'll be going in as Riley Evans the most kick-ass believer ever," Riley declared, "You don't need superpowers to do the right thing."

MiM laughed and suddenly the world tilted again. There was once again the curious sensation of the entire world being upside down before Riley crashed into the ice. Thankfully it was whole. Riley got up quickly and glanced around. She was back at the pond. Okay now for a game plan.

"…SHIT I DON'T HAVE A PLAN!" Riley yelled at the sky, "Breathe breathe okay I can do this. I can save Easter, the world, stop Pitch, and smack some sense into the guardians. What do I do first?"

Riley glanced around. There wasn't any answer for her. The Moon, snow, snow, frozen pond none of it was offering her any advice. She needed to think. She told that Man in the Moon she could do this so she had to. The world was depending on her.

"Jack," Riley said looking at the snow, "He needs my belief now more than ever."

Riley took out a snow globe and smashed it on the ground.

"Well, here goes everything," Riley said before jumping through.  
\--------Changing Character POV--------

Jack sat huddled in the snow. He had lost everything. He had failed the guardians. He couldn't even bring winter anymore. He was useless. Nobody would ever believe in him. Baby Tooth nuzzled his check. At least he had done one thing right. Baby Tooth shivered and Jack picked her up in his hands. Baby Tooth shivered again.

"Sorry, forgot," Jack said, "I can only bring cold. I really can't do anything right."

Baby Tooth gave him a pitying look but Jack didn't want to see it. He could never bring warmth to anyone. All he was good at was cold. Maybe Pitch had been right. Cold and darkness went together so well. If he had just remained cold to the guardians none of this would have happened. He wouldn't have failed them. He wouldn't have failed the children of the world. He wouldn't have friends.

A memory popped up. The first time he met Riley. She had stood out so vividly from the snow with her bright hair and coat. He remembered that feeling of absolute joy he had felt when she called for him. She had seen him. She knew him. She believed in him. That was the happiest he had felt in 300 years. Someone believed in him. But then Riley wormed her way further into his life. She flirted with him. Jack had been surprised at first, having watched flirting for decades but never participating. He had flirted with a few girls for fun over the years but of course they never saw him. Riley was fun. She was adventurous. She took risks. Her ingenuity with the snow globes was something to be admired and the purpose she had used them for, well he had no objections. Riley was a ball of light in his world of loneliness. But then she cared. The way she had fought for the guardians and for the children of the world. The way she tried to make Jamie believe in him. The way she had cuddled and played with Sophie.

Riley had become a source of warmth in his spirit. Someone to laugh with and play with. Someone who saw him for who he was. He was just a boy. A boy who wanted to have fun. There were the times though when Jack saw Riley he saw more than his believer. She was pretty yes and her hair certainly fit her attitude. Sometimes he just saw her and he felt something stir in his heart. A warmth. He was attracted to it but also afraid it would burn him. But that warmth made him realize one thing, he wanted Riley safe. He didn't want to extinguish the growing warmth inside him. He wanted to protect Riley.

But he had failed at that too. He had left her behind to go chasing after a dream. He should have known better. Sandy wasn't here anymore. Dreams didn't exist. Only nightmares. Jack hoped she was safe now. Was she still waiting for him? Probably not. That was a pathetic hope of his. After all he was the one who had run off after the kiss and then failed the guardians when they needed him most. She probably hated him now.

"It's fucking cold!" a voice bellowed.

Jack's heart raced. He knew that voice, but it couldn't be. Jack stumbled to his feet, almost knocking Baby Tooth out of his hoodie in the process. There in the distance. Was that red?

"Riley?" he called out, half-thinking he was dreaming but half-hoping he was not.

"There you are!"

There was a flash of blue and suddenly Riley jumped out of a portal right in front of him.

"Apparently portals are not as accurate in Antarctica, who knew?" Riley said, "Now let's go cute ass, we have a world to save."

There was a moment of rising hope in Jack. She had come all this way to find him because she believed in him. She thought he could still save the world. Jack glanced at the broken Shepard's crook in his hand. His hopes fell. He could do nothing now.

"I can't." Jack put a little more space in between them, "You're better off without me."

Riley angrily stepped forward.

"Listen Mister," she poked his chest, "I didn't come all the way to the coldest place on Earth so I could watch you have a pity fest. Now get in the damn portal."

Jack got angry back.

"No! I failed the guardians enough for one day. Look at this!" he shoved his staff towards her, "I'm useless! I don't have a purpose! I was a mistake! I just make things worse! Who needs me? After all nobody believes in Jack Frost. The world wouldn't miss me."

"You idjit!" Riley yelled back, "You think this is all about you? What about the children? What about Sophie and Jamie? Pitch is going to make their lives hell and you won't help because your freaking staff broke. Boo-hoo. I just gave up the option of seeing my family again for possibly ever because I thought you were man enough for this! But apparently not!"

Jack's thoughts were racing. He was torn between anger and concern. She wasn't listening. She didn't understand. But the children. Jamie and Sophie. He glanced at the broken staff in his hands. Riley released a breath.

"Look," Riley said much calmer now, "The Man in the Moon picked you Jack. He picked you for a reason. I know it hard to believe in. I had trouble too and maybe you need to know your reason before you go on. We made a deal though. I believe in you, Jack. Please believe in me. Trust me when I say that you deserve your powers and your guardianship and you will use them wonderfully. Believe in me."

Jack didn't look at her. He couldn't. How could someone have so much faith and trust in him when he didn't deserve it? Baby Tooth nudged into his sweater pocket and pulled out the teeth Pitch had thrown at him earlier. Jack stared at it.

"Your memories," Riley said before handing it over to him.

Jack held his memories close to his heart.

"Maybe these will give you the smack of common sense you need."

Jack gave a small smile. That was the blunt Riley he knew. Suddenly there was warmth against his cheek.

"I'm going to get the others and I'm going to help save the world," Riley announced, "And if you get off your cute ass and join us it will be much appreciated. I still want my kissing answer after all."

With that Riley jumped back into her portal without a glance back. The warmth in Jack's heart spread through his limbs like wildfire. Jack glanced down at the teeth and then back at Baby Tooth who nodded at him encouragingly. He opened the box.  
\----------Changing Character POV--------

Riley reappeared in a clearing. She glanced around. There was Tooth, flying very low to the ground, and Santa, who looked like he had seen better days.

"Guys!" she shouted at them running over.

"Riley!" Tooth flew forward to hug her, "We were worried."

"It's okay. I'm alright," Riley said, eager to get to her point, "Look I'm here for a reason while I was gone the Man in the Moon paid a visit to me."

"You saw him?" Santa asked shocked, "No one ever sees Man in Moon."

"Well apparently he's been talking to be through my phone this entire time."

"You mean the strange directions," Tooth gasped, "He was leading you to us."

"Yes," Riley said, "I was chosen like you guys but I was chosen for a different purpose. To believe in you as people. My job is to make sure you can do your job."

Santa and Tooth seemed to wilt a bit at this.

"Oh Riley," Tooth explained, "We've already lost. Pitch crushed all of Bunny's eggs. There's no saving Easter now."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Riley asked stunned, "You haven't lost. Okay no Easter. There are still kids who need protecting. Their dreams, their hopes. You can't give up on them especially because they haven't given up on you."

"What do you mean?" Santa asked.

"You're still here aren't you?" Riley went on, "If you can still fight shouldn't you do everything in your power to protect those children? If you're here someone still believes in you."

"Riley is right!" Santa declared, "We must not lose faith now. Man in Moon gave us job and we shall complete it."

"And if anything, I believe in you and that should be more than enough. Cause I'm awesome."

"You are," Santa ruffled Riley's hair, "Come we take sleigh."

"Wait," Tooth shouted, "What about Bunny?"

"What about Bunny?" Riley asked confused.

"Bunny has been affected most by non-believers," Santa explained.

Just then a little bunny hopped into the clearing from where it had been hiding in the bushes. Riley blinked. Once. Twice. Three times.

"Oh. My. God." She gasped.

"I know, Shelia, get it all out now," an unmistakable Australian accent came from the small bunny.

"You're so fucking cute!" Riley squealed.

She rushed forward and scooped Bunny up in her arms. Riley was ecstatic. He was just so cute and fluffy!

"Please tell me you're going to help us save the world like this," Riley nuzzled his fur, "Are you gonna fight with tiny boomerangs and mini egg grenades because a tiny bunny being kick ass would be the fabulous thing ever!"

"Uh Riley," Tooth warned, "Perhaps you should put Bunny down."

"No fucking way," Riley held Bunny up in front of her.

Bunny glared back at her. Aw it was so cute. A bunny glaring.

"You've towered over me for months. Consider this revenge. Cute fluffy revenge," Riley started chuckling evilly to herself.

"Someone kill me now," Bunny begged.

"Not yet!" Riley squished Bunny into another hug, "We have to save the world first."

"And just how are we supposed to do that?" Bunny asked.

Riley almost froze. Almost. A brilliant idea hit her before the guardians could realize she had no plan at all. Riley sent a silent prayer to thank whatever higher being for the idea. Otherwise Bunny would kill her, fluffy or not.

"We protect the believers," Riley suggested, "We prove your existence to them and help them spread the word to their friends. Meanwhile we also guard the kids from Pitch."

"That's a good idea," Tooth clapped her hands together, "We could regain power and protect the children."

"Good, cause I just thought of it." Riley admitted.

The group seemed to deadpan at that but Riley continued to happily pet Bunny.

"Everyone to sleigh!" Santa announced.

Everyone else clambered in as Santa took the reins. There was a pause. Santa fainted in his seat. Proceed freak out.

"What do we do?" Tooth asked, "We can't take the tunnels and I can't fly."

"I've got my snow globes," Riley said, "If we could just get the sleigh to move forward. I could transport us."

"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" Bunny asked warily.

"Look out world! I'm driving Santa's sleigh tonight!" Riley shouted to the sky.


	13. Ride of Doom!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Riley inspires the Guardians to give saving the world their all, after taking them on a terrifying sleigh ride of course.

Chapter 13: Ride of Doom 

After the group had figured out their destination, ironically to Jamie's house, Riley took control of the sleigh. It should be pointed out that driving a sleigh was no easy business. Driving a sleigh with eight reindeer was quite difficult. And doing that when you have no idea what you're doing was almost impossible, but Riley somehow managed take off after yelling words like "Mush" at the reindeer for fifteen minutes. Okay they may have taken off the tops of one or two trees and possibly a chimney on a house, but after that they achieved enough altitude not to hit anything. Now they just had to survive possibly the bumpiest, twistest ride of their lives. Seriously, it had been better when evil ponies of doom were attacking the sleigh. Bunny was huddling under the seats looking like he was going to puke. Tooth had her eyes shut and was holding the unconscious Santa as best she could, but she was tiny and Santa was large so he slid around quite a bit. Riley was gripping onto the reins for the dear life. This probably wasn't her best idea.

"On Dasher! On Donner! On Comet! On Blitzen!" Riley shouted at the reindeer, "Shit what were their names again? Vixen? Dancer? Cupid? Screw it just fly!"

The reindeer were confused, most likely cause Riley was pulling the reins the wrong way and calling them by the wrong names, so they kept bumping into each other and then pulling too far apart. A particularly nasty collision led to the sled almost tipping on its side. Riley yanked at the reins hard and they managed to regain uprightness.

"I have no idea what I'm doing!" Riley cried.

"You think?!" Bunny shouted from the back.

"Go back to puking hypocrite! Like you could do better!"

"Riley!" Tooth shouted terrified, "Look out!"

A giant building had emerged from the clouds and the sleigh was on a direct collision course.

"Where the fuck did that come from?!" Riley yelled before grabbing a snow globe, "Please work!"

She threw it with all her might towards the building where it smashed open and a giant portal appeared in the nick of time. The sleigh flew through and the group let out a sigh of relief when they appeared over Jamie's town.

"Okay, who knows how to land this thing?" Riley asked.

Bunny and Tooth shot her looks of pure terror.

"New question, who's going to wake up Santa so we don't die in a horrible sleigh wreck?"

Tooth instantly began shaking Santa and Bunny started giving out Easter related threats. Santa came around and it took him approximately ten seconds to realize what was going on and take the reins back from Riley.

"Prepare for bumpy landing," he called over his shoulder, "Reindeer do not have much magic left."

"Anything is better than Little Red driving," Bunny said.

"Can't argue you with there," Riley admitted.

Santa managed to steer the sleigh close to the ground and there quite a bouncy landing in which Riley only shrieked a little before the sleigh skidded to a stop. Riley quickly leapt out of the sleigh and to the ground.

"Sweet Earth!" she patted the ground, "I do so love gravity."

"Santa?" a voice called.

Riley turned to see Jack flying over, taking Jamie with him. Jamie looked ecstatic to be seeing Santa again. Wait. Something was off here. Give her a moment. She could do this. Oh! Oh! Jamie could see Jack! He was talking to Jack and touching Jack and Jack found his first believer that was an actual kid from this dimension!

"I knew it! I knew you weren't a dream!" Jamie cried happily.

"Jack, he can see you," Tooth said in awe, "You did it Jack! You got your first believer!"

"Oi! What am I? Chopped liver?" Riley was paid little mind.

"Yeah," Jack admitted sheepishly.

"Good for you, Jack," Santa patted him on the shoulder.

"Where's the Easter Bunny?" Jamie asked looking around.

Santa sighed, "We've all been affected by the lack of believers but Bunny worst of all."

He was interrupted by Riley running over and attempting to cover his mouth. She was too short to fully reach so she only managed to place the tips of her fingers over his mouth. He got the message though.

"Santa I know what you have to say but I'm going to interrupt you here," Riley ran over to the sleigh and picked up Bunny who tried to escape and failed.

"Prepare for," Riley turned around and held Bunny up, "Fluffy Bunny!"

"What happened to him?" Jamie seemed concerned, "He used to be so big."

"What are you talking about? He looks better this way. Much cuter anyway," Riley was ignored again.

"Oh now he sees me," Bunny muttered, "Where were you an hour ago kid?"

"Is this because no one believes anymore?" Jamie asked.

"After Jack let Pitch ruin my eggs Easter was ruined," Bunny huffed angrily.

"Bad bunny!" Riley flicked him on the nose, "Jack was trying. It's not like you defeated Pitch either and I had to go and kick both of your sorry butts to get you to come here."

"Jack helped," Jamie insisted, "He made me believe in you when I was about to give up."

"He did?" Bunny squirmed out of Riley's arms and looked at Jack in awe.

"Yeah he did!" Jamie defended Jack, "Jack even told me it's important to believe in others because if you believe the best in them they'll believe the best in you."

"Thank you Jack," Bunny bowed his head.

"No, it was something I learned from someone else," Jack looked at Riley, "Thanks for smacking some sense into me."

"I think Riley smacked a little sense into all of us," Tooth said, "We couldn't have done this without her."

"I just, I mean, you don't have to," Riley was humbled by their thanks, "I just did my job as your friend and dimension hopping teen. It was nothing. I truly believe you guys could have done this without me."

"Dimension hopping?" Bunny asked.

"Oops did I not mention that?" Riley laughed nervously, "Yeah the Man in the Moon told me I come from a parallel universe."

"You really are special Sheila."

"One of a kind," Riley smiled.

"What a touching moment," a chilly voice spoke, "But you are standing in my way."

With that a series of evil ponies of doom appeared and began charging at the guardians.

"Protect Jamie!" Santa ordered whipping out his swords.

Jack grabbed Jamie's hand and they began running. Riley, Bunny, and Tooth followed after with Santa bringing up the rear. The nightmares were gaining ground as they raced through the streets. Eventually they came to a dead end.

"We have no choice," Santa said, "We must fight."

The others got into a protective circle around Jamie. Riley reached into her bag for another snow globe. Shit! She was out. She took out her flamethrower. She wasn't going down without a fight. She tried to breathe normally as the horses surrounded them. She wasn't afraid. They could do this. She believed in them. And even she…even Riley would give her life for this kid. Riley turned to see Jamie looking terrified behind her. Riley wished she could tell him everything was going to be alright, but things looked pretty bleak right now.

"Jamie," she called, "Remember what I said about me being a believer? Well I'm making you a temporary one, but you have to do something for me."

"What?" Jamie asked nervously.

"You have to believe Jamie. You have to believe we can do this. You have to believe in Santa and Bunny and Tooth and Jack. You have to believe better then you ever did before, okay?"

"Okay," Jamie agreed.

He paused for a moment and then continued.

"I'll believe in you too, Red Lady," Jamie said, "I believe you'll win."

Red Lady? Oh the hair and jacket. Also it sounded pretty similar to her name. He must have gotten the two mixed up. You know what? She actually liked that title. She could live with it. It made her sound sort of special and if she was going to die by evil ponies of doom she might as well have a cool title.

"Thank you, Jamie," Riley smiled, "Now bring it evil ponies!"


	14. Red Lady

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Riley, the Guardians, and Jack reunite to engage in the final battle for the world. Basically it's the final countdown!

Chapter 14: Red Lady

All things considered, Riley probably shouldn't have said that. Probably being the key word. When Riley made her announcement the ponies charged. It became chaos for a moment. Jack used to have the biggest advantage over the nightmares, apparently winter was not their thing, but it wasn't that way anymore. Riley managed to melt a few ponies and set a few on fire before the unthinkable happened.

"Shit, I'm out of aerosol!"

Of course her back up flamethrowers were in the sleigh with her extra snow globes. That was just how the world fucking worked. She really needed something so of course she left it somewhere else. Because shit.

"I'm out of egg grenades," Bunny noted.

"They're gaining ground," Santa pointed out.

"My ice isn't as effective," Jack was clearly struggling with the new powerful ponies of doom.

"As your power grows weaker, I grow stronger," Pitch laughed from the darkness, "Fear only makes me stronger."

He said that in what probably should have been a threatening, terrifying manner, but all that really happened was Riley got pissed. When Riley gets pissed she tends to say stupid things which would explain the following scene.

"Yeah! Well you wear a man dress!" Riley shouted at Pitch.

Jack, Bunny, and North had to clamp their mouths shut so they wouldn't laugh. The look on Pitch's face was priceless. Probably something Pitch never expected to hear in a million years. Actually something Riley wasn't expecting to say anytime soon either. But it happened. Once Pitch got over his shock, he just looked even angrier than before. Really Riley should have learned to keep her mouth shut by now especially because Pitch attempted to kill her the last time she insulted him. She just had a really slow learning curve and a really short temper.

"Kill them," Pitch ordered his nightmares.

"Jack," Jamie whimpered, "I'm scared."

There was a moment in which something clicked in Jack's head. He went from being tense and nervous to relaxed.

"Don't think about it Jamie," he patted Jamie on the shoulder, "Let's have a little fun."

With that Jack turned around and launched a snowball at Pitch's face. While that distraction was going on, the guardians made a break for it.

"What's the plan, Jack?" Tooth asked.

"Pitch said so himself, he feeds on fear," Jack explained, "If we don't fear him."

"Then he won't have any power!" Santa caught on.

"So what you're saying is that we need to have fun?" Riley smirked, "I can do that."

"Really now?" Jack grinned at her, "I bet Jamie and I could have more fun then you."

"You're on cute ass. Red Lady vs Jack Frost. Whoever has the most fun wins."

The guardians rounded another corner and appeared back where the sleigh was. They stopped for a moment.

"It's a bet," Jack winked.

"Don't count us out mate," Bunny grinned, "Someone's got to distract those horses while you round up the kids."

"We'll take care of it," Tooth agreed.

"It's settled," Santa took out his swords, "Prepare for fight, Pitch."

Riley was about to make a run to the sleigh to restock her supplies when Jack grabbed her hand.

"One more thing," he said.

And then he kissed her. Riley's inner fangirl started a round of cheering interrupted by casual fainting and then reviving. Riley herself felt her heart beat faster in her chest. It was nice. It was really nice. She really liked kissing Jack. They broke apart. Riley's entire face felt very hot as she stared at Jack in shock.

"The bet starts now," Jack said, quickly flying away and grabbing Jamie to go with him.

Riley stared after them. Did he just? After? In the middle of? Oh yes he did. Oh he was so going down.

"So uhmm you two an item now or something?" Bunny asked embarrassed.

"No time to talk!" Riley announced, "I've got children to befriend, horses to melt, and a boy who is so losing this bet!"

With that Riley raced towards the sleigh and filled her bag up with snow globes. She quickly made two more flamethrowers and put them in her coat pockets. She was ready. Pitch prepare to meet Red Lady.

"Teenagers" Riley thought she heard Bunny grumble before she leapt into a portal.

"Sophie," Riley shook Sophie, "Time to get up. We're going to play a game."

"Game," Sophie mumbled sleepily.

"A game," Riley confirmed, "But we need some more friends to play first. Do you have any friends who would like to play?"

Sophie seemed to brighten at the concept of a game with friends. Quickly, Riley dressed Sophie in her coat and gloves. Sophie was giggling excitingly the entire time and then the two of them departed. Sophie technically had to control the portals since Riley didn't know where her friends lived, but if Riley asked the right questions Sophie usually thought the right thoughts. Although at one point they did end up inside a candy store. Riley wasn't entirely sure how that happened. Soon Riley had a gang of fifteen three to four year olds, all of whom were very excited to be up playing a game in the middle of the night.

"Okay," Riley clapped her hands, "Who wants to hear the rules?"

There was some nodding, shrieking, and one little girl started jumping up and down.

"We all need to go outside and have the most fun possible! Who wants to do that?"

More shrieking, squealing, and general toddler hyperness. It was a wonder none of the parents woke up. Riley would have had trouble explaining what she was doing with a bunch of children in the middle of the night.

"Now there are these black ponies around town," Riley explained, "They look scary, but don't worry I won't let them stop our fun, okay?"

"I don't like horses," one little boy mumbled.

"It's fine. I won't let them get you." Riley knelt down to his level, "Okay? You can play with me and I'll keep you safe."

The little boy nodded.

"Alright! Let's go have some fun!" Riley opened the portal and ushered the small children through.

They landed in the park and at first the kids seemed a bit confused but they quickly got over it and began playing with the snow. A few looked a bit lost so Riley started a game of tag which of course turned into everyone running around all over the place with really no idea why they were running but were having fun anyway. Two kids stuck by Riley's legs so Riley asked them to pretend to be airplanes with her and soon they were running around too. Riley was admiring her work when she was hit in the back of the head with a snowball. She turned to see Jack there with Jamie and what she assumed were Jamie's friends.

"Oh it's on!" Riley grabbed a snowball and launched it at the group.

It became an all-out war. Toddlers don't really make great snowball fight comrades. It's hard enough for them to form a snowball but having them throw it was a different game entirely. Honestly they would rather put the snow down their friend's back then try to throw it at the opposing team. It was fun though. Jack's team was absolutely decimating Riley's.

"Never surrender!" Riley shouted from behind the wall her team was hiding behind, "Charge my army!"

This led to a war cry from the toddlers, well as much as a war cry one can get from little kids, and then they ran out from behind their wall and charged. The older kids let the little kids tackle them to the ground while shouting things like "I will be avenged!" and "No! They got me! Tell my mother I love her!" Jack was laughing at the scene below him until Riley used a portal to get into midair and tackled him to the ground. Jack laughed as Riley sat on top of him congratulating herself on her victory.

"Team Red Lady!" Riley shouted.

The children cheered.

"Not yet!" Jack said stuffing snow down Riley's coat.

"COLD!" Riley leapt off Jack in order to attempt to get the snow out of her coat.

"Cheater!" one of the kids accused.

"Me never," Jack grinned.

"Cheater! Cheater! Red Lady won!" one of kids accused.

"Now you gotta apologize."

"Yeah, Jack," Riley teased, "I want an apology."

"An apology, huh?" Jack got very close to Riley, "I can manage that."

Riley blushed at Jack's proximity, but like hell she was backing down now.

"Hate to interrupt this moment, but we have trouble coming," Santa shouted as he came running onto the scene.

He was followed by Bunny and Tooth and a small herd of evil ponies of doom. Riley and Jack quickly took protective positions in front of the kids. Pitch emerged from the shadows over his army of ponies.

"This has been so fun," Pitch mocked, "But it's time to end this."

The moment was interrupted by one of kids breaking out from behind the guardians and Riley to run towards the ponies. She ran forward, gleefully laughing, and hugged one of the ponies. To everyone's great shock the nightmare disintegrated into golden sand.

"I'm sorry was the solution to our problem this entire time to hug the damn things?" Riley questioned.

"I think," Jack began, "If they don't fear the nightmares, the nightmares hold no power over them."

"So what you're saying," Riley whirled around to the kids behind her, "Is that we should have another snowball fight with the ponies this time?"

The kids cheered.

"We'll take Pitch," Santa shouted.

Jack looked between the guardians who were fighting their way through the ponies to Pitch and Riley.

"Go cute ass," Riley said, "I have an army of kids to lead in a fight against evil ponies of doom. You owe me a kiss."

"I'll pay it back with interest," Jack winked before flying off.

"Alright kiddies." Riley addressed the children, "Welcome to Red Lady's army. You're first and only order is to go have fun. Also hug a pony if you can. If you're afraid stick with me. I got this."

Half the kids, mostly the older ones, immediately leapt into action. A few of the braver younger kids leapt forward to hug as many ponies as possible. The rest stayed behind Riley. Riley whipped out a flamethrower and a few snow globes.

"Let's do this thing!"


	15. Best Army

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Riley leads an army of small children against nightmare ponies in order to save the world.

Chapter 15: Best Army

Horses began charging forward and the kids began hugging them. They soon discovered that all it really took was touching the horse and whatever part they touched began to disintegrate. The kids had epic fun poking, prodding, and generally annoying the horses. The first horse charged near Riley and she flamed it. The horse began to melt into golden sand.

"Alright kiddies," Riley flamed another pony before turning back to the kids, "We need a fighting song. If you sing very loudly and clearly it will make the guardians stronger and it will allow you to defeat pones by yourself."

"What do we sing?" one kid asked.

"Oh I'll teach you," Riley smirked evilly.

Ten minutes and fifteen melted ponies later Riley had taught the kids the song. She had proudly named it "The Stinky Man in the Dress" sung to the tune of "Who's afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?"

"Who's afraid of the man in the dress? The man in the dress? The man in the dress? No one's afraid of the man in the dress. Because he really smells!" the kids sand in chorus.

"Beautiful," Riley complimented, "Now sing loud and sing proud and give some ponies some hugs!"

The remaining kids broke off into a run, each one chasing down a horse to hug while screaming loudly parts of the song. It was chaos, but a fun kind. Now that there weren't kids hiding behind her, Riley was free to fight. She smashed a snow globe and jumped through. From place to place all over the park she appeared. Riley would jump out, flame a pony, and jump back in. Sometimes she pulled kids out of the way or had kids jump into the portal with her. Every time she jumped she yelled something fun and ridiculous like "Burn Baby Burn!" or "Fire Power!" At one point Riley forgot she was unaffected by magic so when she stood in front of a horse, it charged right through her.

"Well that felt strange," Riley said looking at the pony who was dashing away after it went through her internal organs.

"You're so cool Red Lady!" one of the kids shouted, "The ponies can't touch you!"

"I'm too awesome for them!" Riley shouted back.

The kids grinned widely before running off to join his friends in hugging a pony. Aw she was spreading the love. Granted it was a love that disintegrated ponies, but they were evil ponies so it was okay. Riley decided the guardians needed a little assistance and jumped into another portal.

"Bunny! You're big!" Riley whined.

Bunny was now his normal size and was frankly kicking butt. He was leaping over ponies and whirling his boomerang around and being a kick ass guardian.

"I happen to like this size Sheila," Bunny said using one pony as a springboard.

"But you were so cute! And fluffy! And I wanted to see you be a bad ass little bunny!" Riley complained while casually flaming two ponies.

"That reminds me," Bunny landed in front of her, "I am not fluffy."

Clearly Bunny was trying to be intimating but Riley was unaffected.

"You are the cutest fluffiest bunny ever!" Riley shouted before jumping back into a portal.

"Fluffy Bunny help us," Riley heard one of the kids shout as she left.

She had begun to spread her nickname. Bunny was so going to kill her if Pitch didn't first. Bunny popped out by Tooth, who she kindly reminded that she could admire all the kid's teeth after the battle, and then jumped into another portal again. This time she landed by Jack who was battling Pitch. Pitch launched some darkness at her and Riley dove to the left.

"Idiot!" she smacked herself in the head, "Impervious remember!"

The next time Pitch attempted to attack her, Riley stood still and the darkness passed right through her.

"It feels icky!" Riley cried as she stepped out of the reach of the darkness, "It was all up in my organs!"

She whipped out her flamethrower and attempted to burn the black. Surprisingly it lit up with ease and melted away. Jack looked at Riley and Riley grinned at Jack.

"First person to destroy the most darkness gets a kiss from the loser!" Riley challenged.

"See if you can keep up," Jack winked.

Ice. Fire. Dark. Fire. Ice. Dark. Portal. Ice. Fire. Fire. Insult. Comeback. Ice. Dark. Comment about icky sensation. Ice. Ice. Dark. Fire. Ice. Finally Pitch was out of breathe and out of places to run. In the distance the kids were giggling and shouting and singing the lyrics to "Smelly Man in a Dress." Santa, Tooth and Bunny joined Jack and Riley.

"Nowhere to run now," Jack said, "You're finished Pitch."

"No there is always darkness and always fear!" Pitch shouted before melting into the ground.

"Where'd he go?" Tooth sounded frantic.

"The children!" Santa gasped.

Riley opened a portal.

"Everybody in!"

They all jumped through and landed in the middle of the park. There Pitch stood surrounded by children. The nightmare horses were gone, in their places were piles of golden sand.

"You should believe in me!" Pitch shouted at the children, "I deserved to be believed in!"

"Oh I believe in you," Jamie said, "I'm just not afraid of you!"

Something amazing happened then. Pitch seemed to shrink in size and as he did all the golden sand on the ground began to rise into the air. It formed together and began swirling. The sand condensed and brightened. Out of the top of the sand pile emerged Sandy.

"Sandy!" the guardians and Riley cheered.

Sandy's sand formed fireworks which began to light up the sky in golden displays. The children oohed and ahhed. Sandy landed on the ground and immediately was tackled in a hug by Riley and Tooth.

"I'm so glad you're back!" Tooth cried.

"I missed your cool and silent ways!" Riley admitted, "No one else could compare in Fluffy Bunny!"

"Give him some air," Santa said.

Tooth and Riley backed off only for Santa to scoop up Sandy in a hug.

"Put him down, mate," Bunny said.

"Yeah we still have someone to take care of," Jack motioned to Pitch.

Pitch was attempting to scurry away while everyone was distracted.

"We seriously need to put him on a leash or something," Riley muttered, "At least tie his legs together."

The guardians gave chase into the woods.

"Come along, children!" Riley waved at them, "Team Red Lady charge!"

"Charge!" the children shouted and gave chase.

They encountered the guardians in the woods standing around Pitch.

"See! You still have fear!" Pitch shouted pointing to black ponies of doom that appeared around the clearing.

"We're not afraid," Jack stated.

"But you are," Santa pointed out.

Pitch had a horrible moment of realization before the ponies started charging. Pitch quickly ran away into the woods.

"Aw I pegged him for screaming like a girl," one kid said.

"I did too kid," Riley ruffled his hair.

A shriek was heard in the distance. Riley and the kid shared a high-five.

"Jack, it is time," Santa said.

Jack looked at the kids who were gathered around him. He glanced at Riley. Riley gave him a thumbs-up.

"I'm ready," Jack grinned.

"Do you Jack promise to protect the children of the world? To make sure their hopes and dreams live on? To do your best for the children?" Santa asked.

"I do," Jack said.

Riley was briefly reminded of a wedding. With Santa as the Priest and Jack as the groom. Oh Jack in a tux. That was a nice thought.

"You are now guardian!" Santa said.

The children and the guardians cheered.

"You'll do a good job, mate."

"I'm so happy for you Jack!"

"You found your center after all."

"In case you were wondering," Riley pushed her way through the crowd of children to in front of Jack, "The phrase is "You were right Riley" and I totally won both bets as well."

Jack used his staff to pull her close.

"You're a smart mouth aren't you?" he asked.

"Oh I wonder who else is like that?" Riley asked sarcastically.

"Smart ass," Jack chuckled.

"Cute ass," Riley whispered, "I'm still waiting for that kiss. Plus interest. Plus the bets I won."

"I'm more than willing to repay," Jack stroked her cheek, "But I won the bets."

Riley was about to argue but she was cut off by a kiss from Jack.

"No kissing in front of children!" Santa separated Jack and Riley.

"We'll save it for later then," Jack winked at Riley.

"Alright, alright, it's time to go," Santa ushered them towards the sleigh.

"You're leaving?" Jamie asked, "Will I see you again?"

"Of course we will," Jack ruffled Jamie's hair, "But we never really leave. We'll always be here. In your heart."

Jamie smiled at Jack and Jack smiled back.

"Time to go!" Santa called.

Jack hopped into the sleigh next to Riley.

"Help all the little ones home, okay?" Riley shouted, "And you guys did awesome today! You were the best army against evil ponies of doom that a girl could ask for."

"We will!" shouted the older kids.

The younger kids shouted various good-byes, and come back soons, and a couple of Team Red Lady cheers.

"Red Lady?" Jack raised an eyebrow.

"Of course," Riley said, "I needed an awesome legacy too."

The sleigh began to take off and the guardians waved at the children till they were out of sight.

"So I believe I owe you something," Jack leaned towards Riley.

"No kissing in sleigh!" Santa shouted.

"Oh I knew they would get together," Tooth sighed.

Sandy was a bit confused, since he missed most of the relationship development, but smiled at them anyway.

"You better treat her well, Jack" Bunny threatened.

"I will, she is my first believer after all."

"Thank you!" Riley finally got the recognition she was asking for, "So what do we do now?"

The guardians all looked at each other.

"Cookies?" Santa suggested.

"Why not?" Bunny shrugged.

"Only if we floss afterwards!"

A thumbs up.

"I can think of something I'd rather do," Jack whispered.

Riley leaned in and kissed him.

"I said no kissing in sleigh!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haha! I did it! I uploaded all the chapters in one day! Go me! Woo! There's also a sequel to this story which is still in the works. When I finish it, I will publish it here. In the meanwhile, the first few chapters are over on fanfiction.net under the same username.


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